Owari Nai Yume ni Tamesarete mo
by baldragnarok16
Summary: [Even When Tried by the Neverending Dream] They both felt empty, in one way or another. One was an outcast, the other misunderstood. They both believe in dreams, but how far will they go to ensure that their dreams become reality? Main pairing: NaruxTe
1. The Girl Known Only as Tenten

Wow, I never would have thought I would write a one-shot, and a romance nonetheless. Enjoy and please review.

Disclaimer: Ido not own Naruto.

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**The Girl Known Only as Tenten**

Tenten fell onto her fluffy mattress, sighing. She looked out of her window and at the clouds.

_'The clouds are nice to look at. They always look the same, always feel the same, and always act the same,'_

Her eyes then went to the picture of her team sitting on her mantle, next to several kunai and shuriken. She chuckled at the sight of Rock Lee and her sensei, Gai, in the exact same pose and smiled sadly at the sight of the scowling Hyuuga Neji. And then her eyes passed over to herself, the nobody, the person who blended into the background. She wasn't strong and she wasn't beautiful, at least, back then. Now she had blossomed into a beautiful woman and into one of the most valued and skilled kunoichi of her generation. But she still longed for that one special person. Her fingers felt the gold locket worn around her neck, a reminder of her first love.

_'Neji, how I used to idolize you, just like Sakura and Ino idolized Uchiha Sasuke before he became a traitor. But then I finally got to know you, and I was finally working up to a proposal when…'_

Neji had been forced into an arranged marriage with his cousin Hinata a year ago. He had fought with Hyuuga-sama persistently and fiercely, but he then threatened to excommunicate Neji from the Hyuuga family, which would mean Neji would lose his Byakugan and all of the techniques that he required it for.

'_He had fought at first mainly out of hatred of his cousin, but then he later fought because we belonged together. And it was that day, the day I was to propose to him, that he gave me this necklace; a symbol of his love. I was so happy, but then he informed me of Hyuuga-sama's threat, and my spirit was broken, for a time at least.'_

She then inhaled the sweet scent of strawberries mixed with sake from the scented candle in her room. It was held in a special place; the sake bottle that Lee had cut the top off of and had given it to her when they were friends, really good friends.

'_Lee, you always were an odd one, ever since our first day together as teammates; with your green jumpsuit, humungous eyebrows, your bowlcut and your eerily radiant smile. Even though you were odd, you were always kind. Especially when I became depressed after Neji broke the news about his engagement. You had taken me out for dinner that one time after I refused to leave my house except for missions, you had rehabilitated me. You made me truly happy, at least, I thought you did. I thought that we could have a happily ever after ending, like in the fairy tales. But, like in real life, happy endings never come, do they?' _

Silent tears fell down her cheeks as she remembered the mission. It was Lee's and hers first B-ranked mission, and their first mission as chuunins. They were assigned to attack a group of Iwa-nins that were information regarding Konohagakure to Otogakure. It turned out that there were more Iwa-nins than they expected, and her, Lee, and another chuunin, Yotsubume Rei, were outnumbered by three. The three of them were able to kill one each before anyone became seriously injured. Then Rei had been incapacitated by an earth jutsu, the only person who knew extensive first aid had been knocked unconscious. Somehow, the duo of Tenten and Rock Lee had defeated two more ninjas, with only one ninja remaining. However, they had underestimated him. None of their jutsu could even scratch him. Tenten was preparing a fireball when the ninja used an earth jutsu that caused a watercourse of mud that rushed under her feet, knocking her off balance. She was heavily damaged and another strong jutsu would probably mean the end for her and Lee wasn't that much better off. The Iwa-nin then used the katon: karyudan, a jutsu she had only ever heard of being used by the former Sandaime Hokage against his fight with the sannin Orochimaru, A dragon head came up from the mud and spewed out flaming balls of mud at Tenten. She thought how life was too short and how she wished she could have been noticed more, like Sakura or Ino. She prepared for the scorching flames to engulf her, but it never came. She opened her clenched eyes to find Lee in front of her, completely scorched. He had taken the fatal blow as a scapegoat for Tenten. He then fell to his knees and whispered something to Tenten. He told her that despite his death, she should let the fountain of youth engulf her mind and body, and then he fell limp. At that moment, only one emotion ran through her veins, and it wasn't grief, it was pure malice; the wish to mutilate the person who could do that to the person she loved and not feel any regret about it. She then used a jutsu she had been experimenting for quite awhile; katon; nenshou shoshoryu. She used her scrolls to summon her vast artillary reserve, and like with Uchiha Sasuke's technique, she used a katon: gokakyu no jutsu to set the chakra strings connecting the weapons together on fire, which eventually spread to the weapons, giving her an array of flaming shurkien, kunai, katanas, and wakizashis. It took maybe five minutes for the enemy to catch on fire from the flaming weapons. Tenten recalled her artillary and basked at the sight of her friend's killer die a slow, painful death. She then left, battered and bloody, for Konohagakure, somehow carrying the corpse of her dear friend and her unconscious teammate. Rei had retired after that mission, Gai had never smiled again after that mission, and Tenten had never loved again.

That is, until now.

Her mind wandered to the certain boy on her mind.

'_All of the villagers seemed to ignore him and spite him, but for what reason she had no theory on. Everybody acts like they know him, but they don't. Not even his friends do, because his friends aren't really his friends. His previous sensei had literally given him away, his friend Sasuke tried to kill him for his own twisted reasons, and Sakura never liked him in the first place, and now only mourned for the loss of dear old Sasuke. Godaime Hokage-sama, Jirayia-sama, and Iruka-sensei are the only ones who know him, if only a portion. However, nobody truly knows him, because he's like me; nobody seems to know him, but everybody claims they do. I wonder if he watches the clouds too. Maybe we're both watching the same cloud but we don't even know it.'_

She once again peered out her window to find that the clouds had congregated and started to look very menacing. She sighed and thought about him; the mask wearer, the deceiver, the one who knew one knew;

Uzumaki Naruto.

"How I long to know what's behind that mask of yours, Naruto-kun. Do you even know who I am?" she wondered aloud.

"Tenten, Neji-san is here!" her mother called. The seventeen year old kunoichi jogged down the steps, jumping over the last two.

"Tenten-chan," greeted Neji, with a smirk.

"Neji-kun," replied Tenten, smiling.

"Hinata-sama just delivered our first child," Neji announced, for once in his life smiling and not smirking.

"Oh I'm so happy for you Neji-kun! What did you name it?" inquired Tenten, ecstatic at the news of her friend's news.

"Hinat-sama named him. His name is Hyuuga Lee," smiled Neji. Tenten's eyes held back tears mixed with happiness and joy at the news. Happiness of Neji allowing his wife, Hinata nonetheless, naming their child, at Hinata commemorating the child after Neji and Tenten's old teammate, and sadness out of remembrance of Lee's death.

"Did you tell Gai-sensei yet?" aske Tenten.

"I was hoping you would come with me," suggested Neji.

"Of course," answered a smiling Tenten. And so the two walked to Gai-sensei's house to give him the news, when the passed a certain somebody. Tenten smiled at him, and he smiled back. She then turned her gaze up towards the clouds, which were starting to turn slightly less dark.

"Is something wrong, Tenten-chan?" inquired Neji.

"Nothing's wrong, I was just looking at the clouds."

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I hope you liked it. Please R&R and tell me if you'd like a continuation of this. 


	2. The Boy Known Only as Demon

This is part two of seven to eight part fic. And yes, this is a timeskip. It takes place before Hinata gives birth. And also, don't be deterred by the seemingly meaningless chapter-character order, eventually every piece of the puzzle will be laid out. And each chapter does affect Naruto and Tenten's relationship in some way.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

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**The Boy Known Only as Demon**

_'I like looking at the clouds. They never kill each other, they never hate each other, and they never cast one another out.' _Uzumaki Naruto was watching the clouds slowly go by through a window in an all white room laying on an all white bed with red sheets. His right leg and left arm were supported by slings. Next to the all white bed with a simple table that held only one object; a bouquet of carnations given to him as a get well present from Hinata and Neji, well, mostly Hinata. She had just written Neji's name on the card for politeness.

_'She's probably the closest friend I've got right now; she's eight months pregnant and yet somehow manages to get me this gift. Dammit I need to get out of her to get her some kind of present for her baby.'_ As Naruto let his mind drift off towards thoughts of the pale eyed Hyuuga, a certain pink haired medic nin walked into the room.

"Hey, Naruto. How are you feeling?" asked Sakura, almost laughing as if she were intoxicated.

_'I'm so sorry, Sakura-chan. I'm so sorry.'_ Naruto said nothing in reply, he just kept his gaze transfixed upon the sky.

"Naruto, is something wrong?" asked Sakura, now sincerely worried for her teammate.

"Gomen, Sakura-chan. I'm so, so, sorry," whispered Naruto, keeping his gaze fixed on the clouds that he admired so very much.

"Naruto, what do you have to be sorry about? You've just completed your first A-class mission. In fact, I'm surprised that you're not jumping off the walls in excitement," teased Sakura lightly. Her words said that she didn't know what the blond boy was talking about, but her eyes betrayed her. Her eyes were expecting this for a long time.

"Sakura-chan, I couldn't keep my promise," sadly apologized Naruto. "Sasuke, is dead," he almost whispered the last three words. He was waiting for Sakura to break down crying and weeping, but the sobs never came. Instead, he felt her inspecting his wounds.

_'I'm so, so, sorry Sakura-chan. I'm so, very sorry.' _He repeated these last two words over and over gain in his head, thinking that swallowing himself in pity for Sakura would get rid of his own pain and grief. Eventually, she finished checking and retreating all of his wounds, without letting a single tear fall.

_'Sasuke would have been proud of you, Sakura-chan.' _Before Sakura left, he remembered Sasuke's dying wish.

"Oi, Sakura!" called Naruto, flashing one of her trademark grins.

"Yes, Naruto?" asked Sakura.

"Before he died, Sasuke wanted me to tell you that despite the things he said to you when we were children; he always thought you were beautiful." Sakura could tell it pained Naruto to say so, and she smiled a smile laced with grief.

"Arigato gozaimasu (sp), Naruto," softly said Sakura. She then left the room as if she were in slow motion.

_'Just another scar to add to my substantial collection.'_

**'There was nothing you could do, Kit.'**

_'No, there was! I could have tried to talk with him! I could have…'_

**'He would have killed you.'**

_'No, he changed! I know that he did!'_

**'Get it through your damn head! It was either you or him, and the stronger of the two survived.'**

_'Why though? Why did it have to end up like that? Why couldn't he have just come home dammit?'_

**'You can't change the past, kit. You know that as better than anyone.'**

_'I know, but, it just hurts so damn much!'_

**'I'm fed up with your complaining. You're a ninja; learn to deal with the death of a comrade. I still don't know why he was so important to you. He just treated you like every other half-wit in this village; like garbage.'**

Naruto had no response to Kyuubi. Doing so would just irritate old scars, not the flesh ones, but the ones that imprint themselves on your very soul; the only kind that Naruto had, and he had plenty of them. One such incident was always at the back of his mind…

_"You are garbage! You will never be anything more than garbage! You have never been anything more than garbage!" shouted a sixteen year old boy, punching with immense power after each statement. It had been going on for ten minutes now, and the boy and his friend's victim was sporting two black eyes, several missing teeth, and was bleeding from various places. The victim's eyes were begging for this torture to stop, to leave him be, but it seemed like they felt that he deserved more, that he deserved this feeling of helplessness and weakness. His eyes darted from side to side, looking for a savior, a sanctuary that would save him. And then his eyes found someone; a boy his age with raven black spiky hair wearing a blue shirt with the Uchiha symbol on it. Their eyes locked, and the boy walked away, as if he hadn't seen the boy or the living hell he was being forced to live through. The boy lost all hope of being saved. His eyes seemed to lose their life as he realized that he was going to die. "Hold him up," grunted the first boy. His two cronies each held one of the victim's arms as the leader moved into a taijutsu posed and brought his knee up, hard, into the young boy's jaw, cracking it. "Just do us all a favor and die, you worthless piece of garbage," sneered the leader. The cronies let Naruto sag to the ground. The leader then picked Naruto up by the collar of his shirt and threw him against the dead end wall of the alley they were in. He hit the wall with a sickening crack and slumped down onto the ground, consciousness lost._

Naruto shivered at the remembrance of that particular incident. Now all he wanted to do was to watch the clouds continue their slow procession across the sky.

_'It's been harder and harder to wear this mask.'_

Two Weeks Later:

Naruto had just gotten out of the hospital and he had never felt better in his life; Neji had informed him that Hinata and him had chosen him to be the godparent (a/n: don't know if they actually have them in Naruto, just pretend they do), he had gotten out of a horrifyingly boring stay at the hospital, and it was his birthday! He had celebrated by buying a certain food that he hardly had the privilege of eating; ice cream. He had been saving up his spare money that weren't spent on hospital bills, electrical bills, rent on his apartment, or food just for this occasion, because the owner inflated the price five hundred percent whenever Naruto had ordered the cold, tasty treat. He was currently walking towards the Hyuuga estate with a shoddily wrapped package under his arm. Before entering the gates, however, he finished his chocolaty treat and devoured the cone in one bite. He entered the front gates and knocked loudly on the front door. Even though Naruto had next to no social graces, he knew how to act at the expansive Hyuuga estate. Soon enough a maid answered the door and Naruto politely asked if he may have the honor of talking with they Hyuuga heiress. The maid grimaced at the sight of the demon brat at her door, with a chocolate coated mouth nonetheless, but she knew how Hinata felt about him. She briskly turned around and led Naruto towards the Hyuuga heiress's room.

"Hinata-sama, Uzumaki Naruto here to see you," expressionlessly announced the maid. Once she saw the door open, she briskly turned around and walked away, secretly disgusted with Hinata being friends with this, demon.

"Hey Hina…" Naruto couldn't end his greeting however, as two arms wrapped around his midsection, hard.

"Naruto-kun! What brings you here?" greeted Hinata with one of those rare Hyuuga smiles.

"Hi…na…ta yo…you're cru…shing my ribs," choked out Naruto.

"Ah! Gomen Naruto-kun!" squealed Hinata, reverting back to her old habit of pushing her fingers together and blushing.

"Hinata, come on don't go back to old habits!" exclaimed Naruto. Before Hinata was forced into an arranged marriage a year before with Neji, Naruto and Hinata finally found their relationship to be blossoming. Hinata had eventually worked up the courage to ask Naruto out for a date. The relationship was shaky at first, but after the first couple of dates, Naruto and Hinata had officially declared themselves a couple. It was a cold February night when Naruto had spent all of his life savings on a fancy dinner and a pure gold ring. Naruto had planned to propose to Hinata on that night, but his heart had once again been broken; Hinata had told him that she had been forced into an arranged marriage with her cousin Neji. Even though Naruto felt angry and depressed, he kept his cheerful façade on and congratulated Hinata on her finally being officially acknowledged as the Hyuuga heiress. However, Hinata had broke down crying, because she finally had her dream come true; only for it to be stamped out of existence by her father. Naruto had held her in his arms, feeling the exact same feeling as Hinata, but couldn't allow himself to show it, for if he had, his façade would have been destroyed, and he would never be Uzumaki Naruto, just the demon brat; the Kyuubi. And over the past year and a half, Hinata had finally come out of her shell, if only a little bit. She could now talk without stuttering most of the time and only reverted back to her old ways if she was embarrassed.

The two chuunin then entered Hinata's room, with Naruto still holding the unnoticed package under his arm. Hinata slowly sat down onto her bed as to not disturb the baby she was currently holding inside her and signaled Naruto to sit down next to her.

"Hinata-chan, I have something I want to say to you," grinned Naruto.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" inquired the blue haired girl.

"Congratulations!" yelled Naruto, his wide grin somehow getting even wider. He held out the package and Hinata accepted it, but was staring at it oddly.

"Aren't you going to open it?" asked Naruto, his grin faltering slightly.

_'I hope she likes it.'_

Hinata cautiously opened up the spiky package and found within it a stuffed bear. It wasn't fancy or cute, it was just brown fabric stuffed with cotton with two black button eyes; she expected nothing less than a perfect gift from him, and this is what that bear was, simplistically perfect.

"Naruto-kun, it's…aghh!" Hinata suddenly felt a strong, sharp pain in her stomach and on instinct brought both of her hands over to it. "It's coming," slowly panted Hinata.

"Now?" asked a bewildered Naruto.

"Yes, now," panted Hinata. Naruto quickly, but carefully, picked her up bridal style and ran through the open door and down the hallway of the Hyuuga manor, hopefully going towards the exit. During Naruto's mad sprint, he came across an obstacle, namely one Hyuuga Neji, who blocked the hallway, causing Naruto to skid to a stop.

"Naruto, what do you think you're doing running around like a madman with my pregnant wife?" asked Neji, more than slightly ticked off.

"I…we…Hinata…room…present…SHE'S HAVING THE BABY!" Naruto finally got out of his mouth.

"Give me Hinata and you go tell Aburame, Inuzuka, and Kurenai," bluntly commanded Neji.

"But…" protested Naruto, he then saw the Hyuuga's eyes start to go Byakugan. "Fine…but I'll be back soon!" He smiled as he disappeared with a poof of smoke after slowly giving Hinata to her husband. But what was behind that smile would surprise even Hinata.

_'That bastard Neji always steals Hinata-chan away from me. Someday, I'll get my revenge on him.'_

Naruto couldn't help but smile as he found and delivered the news to all of Hinata's team members. Once he had finished, he decided to go inform Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji as well. A good four hours later Naruto was eating his ramen, once again staring at the clouds.

_'How peaceful they look, I've always wanted to be like a cloud.'_ Naruto sighed as he set down his half-eaten ramen.

"Naruto-san, are you alright? You've never not finished a bowl of ramen," inquired the waitress, Ayame.

"I'm fine Ayame, I'm just thinking. Could you give me my bill please?" asked Naruto.

"Sure thing!" perkily said Ayame. She left and then returned with a bill. Naruto reluctantly paid the bill and then left, heading off towards Sakura's house. As he walked towards her house, he passed Neji and Tenten, walking off somewhere together. He made sure to flash one of his signature grins, and he received one back from Tenten, but Neji showed no acknowledgment of him being seen.

_'She can't fool me. I know that her smiles are a mask, just like mine are. I really should get to know her better, I mean; I don't even know her clan name. Maybe, like the masks we wear, we're the same inside. I wonder if she likes the clouds to.'_

Naruto finally arrived at the doorstep of the Haruno household and knocked on the door. He could do nothing else but wait for the pink haired kunoichi to invite him in.

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Jeez, this was a hard chapter to write. I hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter: The Child Known Only as Hopeless 


	3. The Child Known Only as Hopeless

Whoo! Chapter 3! Thank you reviewers who support me and people who put me on their favorites, alert, and c2s. I'd also like to thank my editor, Write-by-Blood.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

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**The Child Known Only as Hopeless**

Her eyes were dead; they held no emotions and no thoughts. Her body was sprawled out on her lacey pink bed; face turned up to face the baby blue ceiling and her normally immaculate pink hair was hanging in greasy strands over her face. Her pillow was soaking wet from the tears that fell from the girl's eyes the previous days and her clothes were worn and soiled. Her ears picked up some muffled talking from behind her door and, as if on cue, walked in her best friend, Yamanka Ino.

"Ohayo…Forehead…girl," greeted Ino in awe. Her friend had never looked so bad in her life. "Sakura, you have to get up."

_'I'm hopeless, just like he said I was. I can't even get over his death. I'm so damn messed up it's not even funny.'_ Sakura's eyes just stared plainly at the black clad Yamanaka girl.

"It's almost time for his funeral; get up, take a shower, and get dressed," commanded Ino; Sakura didn't move. Ino then pulled her off the bed by her arm, Sakura giving no resistance whatsoever, and her body fell onto the floor with a loud thumping noise. Ino became incredibly pissed at the fact that her friend, her best friend, couldn't get over the fact that her childhood crush died and refused to even go to his funeral.

"Damn it Sakura! Can't you just get over it? He wouldn't want you to be this miserable; he'd want you to be happy. And he certainly wouldn't want you to not go to his funeral. So get up off your ass and live before I make you live!"

_'He was right; I'm hopeless. I'm weak and I can't do anything without help.'_ Sakura just looked back at Ino with the eyes of a broken soul; empty and alone with no purpose in life.

Ino just glanced disgustedly at her friend. "Fine, Sakura. Don't come, but I won't pity you if you feel bad about it later," threatened Ino. She whipped around and walked out of her friend's room, slamming the door behind her.

_'Hopeless…weak…worthless…hindrance, that's all I am. A weak, worthless, hopeless, hindrance.' _Sakura shakily got onto her feet and stumbled into her bathroom. She then undressed and took a shower. She then exited, still damp, and put on a long black gown. It had black embroidery lace around the waist and silver, shining silk outlined the entire gown, making it appear to be shining. Sakura then put on a necklace, a silver chain with a sakura flower made of white gold, so that it draped right above her chest. She then impassively left her room and made her way towards the front door, where her mother was waiting for. She smiled sadly as she observed that her daughter was wearing the same gown she wore to her father's funeral.

Haruno Kyoshiro (a/n: not sakura's father's real name. I don't know what it is so I made it up) had died in his sleep a year prior. He had been thirty eight years old and was a respected man in the community. Both Harunos were depressed for at least a month afterwards, hardly interacting with other people unless it was necessary.

The two Harunos walked side by side to the funeral, basking in the sound of silence. Sakura carried with her a bouquet of black roses, her mother with a bouquet of crimson roses. Her mother looked unbreakable in body and spirit with her simple black dress, pearl necklace, and hitai-ate wrapped around her arm, while Sakura looked like a fragile China doll with her elegant gown, silver sakura necklace, and hitai-ate worn on her arm.

It seemed as if the Harunos were the last of the villagers to arrive at the funeral as they saw the small congregation of people paying their respects to the Uchiha ninja. The only person who wasn't there that knew Sasuke well was Konoha's #1 Hyperactive Knucklehead Ninja. The two Harunos waited on a surprisingly long line to pay their respects for the Uchiha. Finally, it was Sakura's turn to pay her respects. She laid her flowers directly under Sasuke's photograph.

"I love you Sasuke, but you were a selfish bastard, even after death. You said that the thing you wanted most in life was to avenge your family. But was that your true motive, or did you just want to prove that you were stronger than your brother? You left us, Naruto and me, you left us here, all alone without a second thought and hardly even a good bye; leaving us to wallow in our sorrows and fears about you. We've waited, and now you've come back to us after all of these years. But somehow even in returning you mock us, Sasuke," whispered Sakura softly so that only she could hear the words she spoke.

She stood over his grave for several minutes before leaving to find her friends. After several minutes of searching she found the remainder of the rookie nine minus Naruto and Gai's team minus Lee.

"So you decided to come after all, Forehead girl?" teased Ino.

"Sakura-chan, you look so…graceful," complemented a morose Hinata, an emotion not seen often on the Hyuuga heiress's face.

"Thank you, Hinata. You look pretty good yourself," thanked Sakura softly.

The group stood together in silent remembrance of the Uchiha, whether in respect, love, or disdain; Sakura in all three of these.

_'Hopeless…weak…useless…'_

'_Before he died, he told me to tell you that he always thought you were beautiful…' _

'_I'll prove it. To me, to them, to him, that I'm not useless, that I'm not weak, and that I'm not hopeless. I always used to think that he would be there for us, and that eventually he would come to love me, but that was just a naïve wish of a child. I'm stronger now, and damn it, I'll show him, even if it kills me. But first, to discover the truth.'_

"Neji?" quietly asked Sakura.

"Hn," replied Neji.

"What…what were his last words?" asked the pink haired kunoichi.

"His final words…were to make sure that Itachi dies and that his sacrifice to help kill Orochimaru and Kabutowould not be in vain," spat Neji.

'_So it was a lie; I thought that it sounded out of character for him.'_

"It was that monster's fault that the Uchiha prodigy is dead. If it weren't for his presence, he would've come back, and he probably would never have left in the first place," disgustedly said a voice.

"I can't believe that he's still alive; and a ninja at that! He should have been killed the second the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi in him."

After hearing these horrible words, the ninja lapsed into angry silence.

' _How dare these closed-minded people who never even tried getting to know Naruto talk of him as if he didn't deserve to live!'_

The Rookie Nine and Gai's team had ignored those people, whose population grew smaller by the day as they came to the realization that they were wrong, but now, speaking about him like this at a funeral, Sasuke's funeral especially, crossed the line, and the first person to become unable to contain themselves from punishing them was the person no one expected, not even that person; Sakura.

"How dare you talk about Naruto like that," whispered Sakura. "After all he's done for this village, and after he had to persevere through all that this village has made him suffer through how the hell can you possibly talk about him like that?" Sakura's voice level rose with every word, until she was almost screaming out the words. Then she started get control of her voice, and what she proclaimed shocked everyone. "Sure, he's not Sasuke. He's not the smartest person, or the strongest person, but he's everything that Sasuke wasn't: happy-go-lucky, cheerful, respecting, acknowledging, and he never goes back on his promises. That's why, I forgive him. Naruto, if you can hear me, I forgive you! I forgive you for killing Sasuke! In fact, I'm sorry! I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you, that I made you make promises you couldn't keep, and for making you so damn sad!" she cried.

She then sank to her knees and sobbed, and for probably first time in her life not out of self pity, but out of pity for another, Naruto. The clouds then released their own tears at the funeral of Uchiha Sasuke, quickly leaving everyone wet. The villagers who had insulted Naruto fled the second that Sakura started shouting out apologies, for they didn't want to be attacked by one of the strongest kunoichi in the city. Sakura stayed on her knees in the mud seemingly unfazed by the downpour.

However, she snapped back to reality as a strong hand firmly grasped her shoulder. Her tear filled emerald eyes met the blank canvas of Hyuuga Neji's eyes. He then extended a hand towards the mourning woman, and she gladly accepted it. She then rose up from the mud and walked along side her friends to go get some food at a nearby barbeque restaurant.

'_I will become stronger, I promise you that Sasuke-kun. I will become stronger, and then I'll be able to rightfully mourn your death.' _

And at that moment, the clouds stopped their deluge, and returned to being the fluffy and innocent incarnations that they were.

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**Two weeks later

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**

Sakura had changed.

She now gave every thought towards how to better herself as a kunoichi and a person, and this had its effects. She was now considered the best medic-nin in Konoha, besides Tsunade and Shizune of course, and she found that after all of those years of obsessing over Sasuke, she failed to recognize the traits of everyone around her. She found out that Shino was actually quite sociable when he was dragged into a conversation that interested him, that Chouj was one of the kindest and most considerate people she has ever met, and that Kiba is actually quite sympathetic and encouraging, given the chance to be so; she had become close friends with all three of the shinobi since Sasuke had died.

Also, she had done something that she should have done years ago; she stood up for someone too weak to defend themselves. Earlier that week when she was departing from the hospital, she had found several of the older academy students beating up another younger one. She only had to alert the students of her presence before they flew off like vultures from a carcass. She mentally gasped as she bent down to examine the younger child's wounds. First off, he had several broken bones and injuries to his lungs and pancreas, and second, he was the Uchiha Sasuke reincarnation. They had the same hair, the same build, and the same eyes, except this boy's was filled with trepidation and apprehension of the medic-nin crouched above him instead of condescension and authority. Sakura just smiled, and that was all the recognition the boy needed before he fell into bliss unconsciousness. She had healed the more serious wounds and had taken him to the hospital, where she placed him into a room to be held overnight.

When the boy awoke the next morning, the first thought in his head was to thank the pink haired ninja.

Sakura was brushing her shortened hair when she heard someone knocking on the door. She sighed and reluctantly left her vanity and walked off in a low cut red t-shirt, baggy navy blue pants and black sandals. When she opened the door, her eyes met those of the person she had not seen for over two weeks; Uzumaki Naruto.

"Hey Naruto, what brings you here?" cheerfully asked Sakura.

"Before I say anything, Sakura-chan, it's…it's okay with me if you detest me for what happened," morosely stated Naruto, hanging his head.

"I don't hate you Naruto, in fact, Sasuke's death, has, helped me in a way, but I doubt you came all the way to my house just to tell me **that**," prompted Sakura.

"Hinata-chan's in labor (1)," happily announced Naruto, flashing off his trademark fox grin.

"What?" asked Sakura, she was completely caught off guard by the blond haired shinobi's announcement.

"Ugh…I said, Hinata-chan's having her baby. Now can we go so I can see my godson (a/n: once again, I know that it's used mainly in Christianity, but I don't know if there is an equivalent for that for whatever religion the Naruto peoples practice)?" asked Naruto, obviously very anxious to leave. By the time Naruto had finished complaining, the pink haired kunoichi had already left her house and was on her way to the hospital.

"Come on slowpoke, you'll just slow me down if you just stand there!" half-hollered, half giggled Sakura. Naruto grinned widely again and ended up running after Sakura to catch up to her.

'_To think about it; Hinata bearing Neji's child. I would never have believed it if I wasn't at their wedding, and I still thought that the wedding was unreal when I was there. Well, if anything, I'm happy that they've grown on each other and that they get to experience being parents. For now, I can only dream of raising a family. I'm only just reaching my prime as a kunoichi and I'm still recovering from Sasuke's death; I'm not going to have a family. But I swear to you, Uchiha Sasuke, that I will live long enough to have a child, no, several children and live happily with you in my, which is what I hope you would've wanted.'_ And with that thought, Sakura looked back, grinning at her foxy friend and looking up to the clouds that were ever changing; so not even Kami (2) himself would know what their next actions.

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Well, there's ch. 3. (DUH). 

(1): Naruto still thought that Hinata was still in labor, because he had been searching for the remainder of the rookie nine and informing them.

(2): Kami is the equivalent of God.

Next chapter: The Rock with White Eyes

Please R&R, you readers have been doing a great job of this and I highly appreciate it.


	4. The Rock with White Eyes

I am so sorry for having such a late update! Please forgive me! But I seriously had horrific writer's block that wouldn't let me update! Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I thank Doll Face Sally for inspiring this chapter with her own wonderful story, "Remember Me, Even If It's Too Late."

Also, do you consider this angst or tragedy?

Thank you so much for all of your support, whether it was by reviewing this story, adding it to your fav list, alert list, or to a c2, or by just simply reading this story!

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.

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Chapter 4: The Rock with White Eyes That Brought Us All Together 

"Tenten-chan!Yyou lost the ball again!" whined a young girl. "How can we play bounce-the-ball if you keep missing it?"

_"Don't worry Umi-chan! I'll go get it in no time!" cheerfully replied a much younger Tenten, her hair let down to below her ears. She was wearing a short lavender dress that extended down to her waist and a darker purple skirt that just barely covered her knees; purple was her favorite color when she was eight years old. She ran as fast as her legs could take her into the dark, narrow alleyway where their ball rolled. As she scanned the alley, her attention immediately shifted to the small boy leaning against the far wall. _

_"What are you doing alone in a place like this?" inquired Tenten, moving closer to the boy so she could get a better look at his face. As she walked closer towards him, her feet made small splashes in the puddles she walked through._

_"Are, are you going to hurt me like them?" whimpered the boy. He was curled into the feeble position, but it was too dim to see anything else about him._

_"Who's them?" cautiously asked Tenten as she drew ever nearer to the figure. As she was approaching him, she began to see blood splattered on the walls and on the ground. Some of it swirled in the puddles of soiled water, creating a dark red solution that creeped the young girl out._

_"They are the ones who did this to me; the villagers. They always do this; they treat me like a toy that no one wants, a toy they have no use of and needs to be thrown away," answered the boy quietly. At that age, Tenten had never thought that it was possible for the villagers, her neighbors, her friends, her protectors, to be able to act like that towards such an innocent boy._

_She ran the rest of the way towards the boy and embraced him tightly, knowing to some extent the feeling of lonliness, of emptiness. She had felt like that ever since her father's death the previous year, and she felt that it was something no one should feel. She began to silently cry for the boy as she noticed that the blood decorating the alley walls belonged to the boy and that it matted his blond hair down to his scalp._

"_Please don't cry for me; I am the only one who has to feel this way," pleaded the boy, who had never felt a hug, never felt wanted, or needed. This just caused her to cry even harder and tighten her embrace on him._

"_Tenten-chan!"_

"Tenten-chan!" Neji had barked out his friend's name, breaking her out of a reverie, albeit a painful one.

"Yeah Neji-kun?" responded Tenten.

"Have you seen either Naruto-san or Sakura-san?" inquired Neji as he attempted to become accustomed to holding his newborn son, who was unnervingly silent, but he couldn't succeed in hiding his anxiousness. Next to him Hinata slept peacefully on the hospital bed placed in the center of the room. Around the room various members of the Rookie Nine and Gai's team were conversing or just observing Neji attempting to hold his son comfortably.

"No, I can't say that I have Neji-kun. I mean besides that one time when we went to go retrieve Gai-sensei, " answered Tenten truthfully. 'He better come; it means everything to Hinata for him to witness what she considers her main accomplishment in life. And if he doesn't show, I'll go and hunt him down myself,' thought Tenten. She had become quite close to the Hyuuga heiress lately, to the point where they could consider each other best friends.

"Konichiwa minna-san! " boisterously exclaimed a certain blond haired shinobi as he slammed open the hospital room's door, which caused many pairs of eyes to shift their attention to him, and also caused a fist to come crashing down on his head, hard.

"Baka! Can't you see that Hinata-chan's sleeping? And what if the baby was asleep? You seriously need to grow up," hissed Sakura angrily.

"Gomen," apologized Naruto as he rubbed the now throbbing bruise on his head.

"It's about time; we've been waiting at least twenty minutes for you to come," complained Kiba.

"I guess Kakashi's mannerisms are finally rubbing off on them," sighed Ino as she ran her hand through her long blond hair.

"Oi, Neji, can I see the kid, my godson?" proudly asked Naruto. Neji wordlessly walked over to him and gently gave him his son as Naruto basked in his apparent victory.

"His name is Lee, and if you drop him I swear that you won't live through the night," threatened Neji. Naruto gulped, suddenly unnerved by the new father. He then proceeded to examine Lee, as if to see how he was put together.

"Soooo, how do you make him work?" asked Naruto, which earned him many groans of exasperation.

"He's a human; you can't just turn him on or off," groaned Sakura as she massaged her forehead with the heel of her palm I think that's the correct phrase anyways.

"Oh, but aren't babies supposed to be really loud?" asked Naruto confusedly. He had never actually handled a baby before and he had thought that all they did was cry all day long.

"When they want attention, yes. But Lee is a Hyuuga, his eyes prove it, and Hyuugas are by no means loud," boasted Neji. And sure enough, Lee's eyes were the signature white hinted with a very faint blue. But soon Neji's ego was deflated as Lee let out a shriek that sounded as if he was being chased by the devil himself, causing some of his companions, Naruto and Tenten in particular, to grin.

"Guess you were wrong Neji," sniggered Naruto. Neji, infuriated, then snatched his son back from him, causing Lee to quiet down.

"Geez, Naruto, I knew you were horrible, but scaring babies, and your own godson for that? That's a new low for you," jeered Kiba as Akamaru, who stood next to his owner, barked his agreement. This caused Naruto to mutter meaningless phrases and then pout after not being able to voice his thoughts.

"Ano, are Naruto-kun and Sakura-chan here yet?" yawned Hinata, who had just woken up that second, as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"Yes, they're here Hinata-chan, and I think Lee is hungry," responded Neji, obviously relieved at the awakening of his wife.

"How can you tell? I mean, he can't talk or anything," asked Naruto confusedly.

Before Neji could respond, Sakura pointed at the young child, who was trying to suck Neji's nipple through his shirt. "Oh."

Neji walked over to Hinata and tenderly handed her their son as she unbuttoned the top of her shirt. Lee then began vigerously eating, causing Hinata to blush deeply, embarrassed by the fact that everyone was watching her.

"Hey, let's go get something to eat, my treat!" cheerfully offered Tenten as her gaze wandered to Hinata and her son, as Hinata mouthed a thank you to Tenten. 'That could have been me, feeding Neji-kun's baby,' thought Tenten scornfully. But she quickfully discarded this thought as she thought of how happy the two seemed to be together. "Naruto-san, could you stay here for a few minutes?" asked Tenten as everyone started to file out of the room, eager for some food. Soon the only ones in the large, uncomforting white room were Neji, Tenten, Naruto, Hinata, and Lee.

"I was wondering, Naruto, that since we're both Lee-kun's godparents, shouldn't we get to know each other better?" asked Tenten, slightly blushing.

"Yeah, of course we should!" eagerly answered Naruto as he grinned widely.

"So, maybe, tomorrow, would you, I don't know, like to have dinner; together?" stuttered Tenten, causing Hinata to empathetically smile and for Neji to smirk knowingly.

"Yeah, sure! How about Ichiraku's?" offered Naruto, not at all noticing Tenten's horrified expression.

"I was actually thinking of you coming to my place at about six or so for some Chinese cuisine," responded Tenten sheepishly.

"Oh, alright," answered Naruto, losing the large amounts of enthusiasm that plagued his thoughts about ramen. It was then that the two noticed the loud arguing outside about where they were going to eat.

"We should get going before the hospital kicks us out," suggested Tenten as she left the room and tried to help resolve the conflict, but was drowned out by Naruto as he exclaimed loudly that he wanted ramen, causing even more arguing to occur.

"What have we gotten ourselves into Hinata-chan?" mused Neji as he sat next to his wife on her bed.

"Life, Neji-kun. We've gotten ourselves into life," answered Hinata as Lee stopped eating and yawned rather loudly. "Do you think you could get one of the nurses to place Lee-kun in his crib?" asked Hinata with a subtle pleading in her tone. Neji wordlessly complied as he got up from the bed and searched for an attendant.

"Tenten-chan and Naruto-san, what an interesting couple. I wonder if they are destined to live together as Hinata-chan and I are, " mused Neji aloud.

"Did you say something?" asked Hinata.

"Yes, but it was merely a thought," answered the Hyuuga prodigy.

"Are you going to go with them to eat Neji-kun?" inquired Hinata as she yawned.

"No, I can't say that I'm hungry," replied Neji as he walked out of the room and somehow quieted the arguing within one minute.

"It's good to have a family and friends that love me," contemplated Hinata as she gently massaged Lee's fragile scalp that was fuzzy with small tufts of black hair.

* * *

'It's nice to get out with friends, even if it was only for an hour or so,' thought Sakura as she took a bite out of her food. With the help of Neji, the group had decided to go to a barbecue place, which was obviously happy at the arrival of the mass of hungry people, even if they were loud. 'But the best part of it is, he's happy. He's happy and no one here is trying to make him otherwise,' thought Sakura as she looked over to Naruto, who was loudly arguing with Kiba about something or other.

"Sakura-san?" A voice broke Sakura out of her contemplation as she found that Tenten had taken the previously vacant seat next to her.

"Yeah?" asked Sakura curiously. She didn't interact that much with Tenten, it wasn't that she disliked the girl, but, she just didn't feel that it was that necessary.

"Can you tell me all you know about Naruto-san?" pleaded Tenten.

"Well, it's pretty obvious that he's boisterous, obnoxious, oblivious, and just plain annoying. But he always seems happy, no matter what the situation is. It's as if he can always find that silver lining in the clouds and then magnify that by a thousand. But the best part is, he shares that silver lining with everyone, and won't stop until single people he knows feel happy, as if some unbearable weight has been taken off of them. And then, there's the other side to Naruto, the side that he hardly ever shows anyone. Even after being on the same team as him for five years, I have only seen that side of him once or twice. It's the side that has to bear all of the weight that he takes off of us. That's the Naruto who is beaten and abused and can't stand living; it's the side of him no one wants to see. It's heartbreaking and makes you feel helpless, because no matter how hard you try, you can't help him," listed Sakura thoughtfully. "Yeah, that pretty much sums him up," confirmed Sakura as she took another bite out of her food.

"Thanks Sakura-san," whispered Tenten.

"May I ask why?" asked Sakura, but when she turned back to look the other girl in the eyes, she was gone.

* * *

After her conversation with Sakura, she left the restaurant, no longer feeling hungry. Sakura's last description kept running through her head;

_"It's the side that has to bear all of the weight that he takes off of us. That's the Naruto who is beaten and abused and can't stand living; it's the side of him no one wants to see."_

_'Why, Naruto, why don't you let us share your pain?' _mentally pleaded Tenten as she strolled along the village. _'The clouds have changed; they're looking lighthearted and carefree,'_ thought the young woman as she entered her house. She quickly departed for her room, and the memory from earlier that day started to finish itself.

_"Tenten-chan! Where did you go? It shouldn't take **that** long just to find a ball!" demanded Umi as she followed Tenten into the alley. She quickly discovered the girl embracing a young boy, who she recognized immediately. "What are you doing?" insisted the girl, steely-voiced. _

_"He's hurt," whispered Tenten, her knees now soaked from kneeling in the dirty water and her skirt was now soaked through._

_"He deserves to be hurt Tenten-chan. Now stop, **hugging him,** and come play with me," dictated Umi._

_"No, no one deserves to be hurt," objected Tenten softly._

_"Tenten-chan, if you even want to have even a chance of being my friend, you will step away from that monster and come play with me," threatened the girl. _

_"I'm sorry," Tenten whispered as she got up onto her feet and looked down with pity on the young boy, who refused to meet her eyes._

_The two girls then walked out of the alley and forgot about their ball, and about the young boy crouched against the wall in the alley._

"I'm so sorry," whispered Tenten as she hugged her knees and silently wept for the boy she could not help.

Once again, I'm so sorry for the late update! Please r&r!


	5. The Force Known Simply as Destiny

I feel so unworthy! You guys have been really awesome with reviewing and all that stuff. I feel that this is my most successful story to date. All of my other stories have either failed horribly or started out with a bang and then fizzled out, so I'm euphoric at the success so far.

(Ten c2s, wow….)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I wish I did so that I could actually make Tenten a character instead of a face you see every twenty to fifty chapters.

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**Chapter 5: The Force Known Simply as Destiny**

Hyuuga Neji was always one who believed that appearance was everything; that people would think less of you if you showed your emotions. As he stood outside of Sakura's door, waiting for someone to let him in, he was waging an internal war against himself while looking calm and composed.

The present matter in question was the latest Sasuke retrieval mission. He still was uncertain if she should know what exactly happened in that mission or if she should be kept in the dark. So far the latter had more logical reasons, but Neji's instinct told him that he should inform her of exactly what happened.

'_I'm here, I might as well tell her, and if Naruto, Kakashi, or Shikamaru have a problem with that, they can bring it up with me,' _thought Neji as the door opened slowly, to reveal a sleepy eyed Sakura dressed in a baggy pair of flannel pants and a cotton shirt that showed off her midriff.

"Neji?" yawned Sakura as she rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Why are you here so late?"

"Sakura we need to talk about Mission ZH98700; in which we were supposed to retrieve one Uchiha Sasuke," firmly insisted Neji as he stepped out of the chilling night air and into the Harunos' warm but small house. Sakura frowned slightly at Neji's purpose for being there, but she didn't object when he entered.

"Follow me, and don't talk that loudly, my mom's asleep," whispered Sakura as she turned around and stalked into the dark house, with Neji following her. Soon she stopped at the very end of the house and opened a door that was painted bubblegum pink, revealing a room with bright pink walls with fluffy blue clouds and wooden flooring.

"Just shut up and sit down," snapped Sakura when she noticed Neji's cocked eyebrow, no doubt because of the color choice. When he declined and instead leaned against a wall, Sakura decided to go lay down on her bed. "So what is it that's so important about the mission?" exasperatedly asked Sakura, trying to appear unconcerned about the matter, but to Neji's natural psychological knowledge, she was obviously anxious about what Neji was about to tell her.

"As you know Sakura-san, Kakashi-sempai, Naruto-san, Shikamaru-san, and I were sent on an S-class mission to retrieve Uchiha; and it was our last chance too, for rumors were circulating that Orochimaru's present body was deteriorating at an accelerated pace. Originally, we planned on invading Orochimaru's lair and then for the four of us to gang up on Uchiha, knock him out, and then bring him back here. If there was any interference we were to retreat, call several ANBU squads for reinforcement, and then attempt again. However, we never even got past Fire Country borders before we were ambushed by Orochimaru, Kabuto, and of course, Uchiha. Of course, we did have a backup plan in case something like that happened. We would call in for back up from the several ANBU squads following at a distance of twenty kilometers behind us while Kakashi-sempai and Shikamaru-san stalled Orochimaru, Naruto would fight Uchiha, and I would fight Kabuto. Everything went according to plan, until we called for back up that is. When we called in the mission leader on his communicator, we received no answer; Orochimaru had foreseen us bringing reinforcements and had them eliminated, so we were alone against three of the three strongest shinobi in the entire world.

"I was able to seal many of Kabuto's tenketsu, thus mostly preventing him from regenerating his cells, and finished him off with a jyuuken thrust to his heart, kidneys, and liver, causing enough internal damage to almost immediately die. However, the others weren't doing quite as well as I was: Uchiha and Naruto-san were pretty much even, but Uchiha was slowly gaining the upper hand while Kakashi-sempai and Shikamaru-san, albeit both elite jounins, were badly outclassed by Orochimaru, so I decided they needed my assistance more than Naruto-san. Even with my Byakugan, Shikamaru-san's kage jutsu, and Kakashi-sempai's raiton jutsu, we were outclassed. Soon enough, Kakashi-sempai was almost completely drained of chakra; Shikamaru-san was suffering from heavy external demage, minor internal damage, and was struggling to stay conscious; I was the only one able to fight him effectively. I had managed to seal off some of Orochimaru's tenketsu, but not enough to impair him greatly. Meanwhile both Naruto-san and Uchiha were in their demonic chakra states, but still Uchiha held the upper edge. I was able to hold off Orochimaru off for several minutes before his Kusanagi incapacitated me. I was only breathing shallowly and I was paralyzed from the neck down, Shikamaru-san finally fell unconsciousness, and Kakashi-sempai had to step back into the battle despite being almost completely drained. The last thing I saw before I fell unconscious was Naruto-san being impaled by Uchiha's sword and falling to his _Chidori Nagashi_, which left Kakashi-sempai outnumbered and outclassed.

"When I woke up, the first person I saw was Shizune-san; she was kneeling over me applying healing chakra and welcoming me back to the 'living world.' Behind her were several squads of ANBU who were supporting an unconscious Kakashi-sempai and a conscious Shikamaru-san, his internal wounds healed. I then noticed that Naruto-san wasn't with the ANBU and I quickly asked Shizune-san where he was, and her eyes seemed to be the essence of pity, and she pointed over to two bodies sprawled over each other, one was dieing, and the other was on the borderline only around a meter away from where I was laying. As you probably have guessed, Sakura-san, Uchiha was the dieing one. But Naruto-san, Naruto-san was crying Sakura-san; he was crying. I would rather be forced to swallow nails than to ever see that again; he looked so, pitiful and so defenseless, so uncharacteristic of him. And Uchiha, he looked so, peaceful, as if he had been waiting for this moment to come and had been expecting it, even expecting his best friend crouched over him crying his eyes out. He then told Naruto-san that his dieing wish was for Naruto-san to avenge his clan and to kill Itachi-san. And Sakura-san, the part that you need to know is, Naruto-san told Uchiha he would. In fact, his exact words were 'I promise you,' and you of all people know how much he values his promises," narrated Neji. Sakura was quite surprised by Neji's sense of caring for Naruto's wellbeing, seeing as they hadn't exactly had the best of relationships when they were younger.

"Neji, what do you want from me? I know certainly well that you didn't come here in the middle of the night just to comfort me," skeptically asked Sakura. Neji just smirked in response.

'_So she has changed for the better over these past few years; I would've expected the old Sakura to be completely fooled by that cover up.'_ "As you've probably noticed, I didn't mention how Orochimaru die. And I did so for one simple reason; only two people know how he died: Hokage-sama and Naruto-san. They have refused to disclose any information regarding the subject," explained Neji.

"And you want me to somehow acquire this information for you?" asked Sakura as she sat up on her bed, boring holes into Neji's head.

"Yes," concisely answered Neji.

"Then tell me Neji-san; tell me why you of all people need to know," demanded Sakura as she got up from her bed and strode up to Neji, looking straight up into his eyes.

"I am not obligated to inform you of my reasons, Sakura-san," coldly denied Neji as he opened the door to Sakura's room. "Will you take the job or not?" Sakura just exasperatedly sighed as she sank back down onto her bed.

"Fine, but instead of payment, I want to know why you want the information and what you plan to do with it," insisted Sakura. But she received no reply, for when she looked to the door, Neji was gone, and what seemed like a thousand miles away, she heard a door being closed.

As Neji exited the cozy Haruno abode, he found himself being bombarded by freezing pellets of rain, seemingly intent on destroying the indelible sins he had committed as a shinobi. He slowly strode away from the house and to a nearby bar that he frequented regularly. The owner there allowed him to enter, albeit the fact that he wasn't allowed to drink. He usually went there to blow off some steam, but never to drink. No, to drink alcohol would stir up painful memories of his childhood, memories he would rather keep hidden.

'If only I could tell you my reasons, Sakura-san. If only I could.' 

It was odd for him to take walks out in the rain, especially in the rain, because the shimmering rain colliding with the dark roads brought back painful memories of his abusive past. But of course, the purpose of this uncommon venture was to avoid the memories that had begun to bombard him while he lay in his futon and glared up at the white washed walls, as if to find the answers to the questions that had been plaguing his mind for the entirety of his life.

**"Kit, there's something you need to know about that girl before you go on that date with her tomorrow," **warned the Kyuubi no Kitsune. However, its warning was ignored as the blond haired young man walked throughout the drenched village. **"Kit! Listen to me!"** bellowed the fox demon. Once again, its call was left unanswered. **"Fine then, I'll tell you the hard way," **snapped the demon.

Suddenly, the memory that had been picking at his mind for the last several days came back at full force, causing a large migraine to start in his head and he dropped down onto his knees and clutched at his head in anguish.

**"I'm sorry Kit, but you refused to cooperate with me," **itsincerely apologized as it released a strong burst of green chakra, causing the man to cry out in torment as it seemed as if his head exploded.

_'What the hell are you doing to me? Why am I in such fucking pain?' _demanded the man as his breathing began to grow more ragged and shallow. The only response he received, however, was a sad smile from the youkai sealed within his stomach.

The memory then proceeded to play: the verbal abuse, the beating, the resistance, the begging, and then him being thrown against the hard wall. This was usually where the memory ended, but this time it kept on playing, as if it had received new footage.

_This time, he woke up, feeling bruised, battered, and aching, but he was alive, somehow. He had no inclination to move yet from that spot, something told him to stay put and wait to see what happened. A voice whispered one word in his head, destiny. It said that it was destiny that he waits and see what would happen. And as he always did, he listened to this strange voice and waited, and waited, until almost an hour passed before something rolled into the alleyway, a ball. It was red and had white stripes, and it rolled all the way into the young boy's grasp. He examined every aspect of it, for he had only heard of balls through stories and has only seen one once before this a few years ago. _

_Then a girl came up to him, and she seemed to actually care. The boy was stunned, no one had ever cared about him before, and so he responded in the only way he could think of; by pushing her away. By telling her that she shouldn't care about him and that he should be the only one to suffer. But this just seemed to make her sadder and then, she hugged him. He allowed her too, only because he had never, touched anyone in that way before, and he didn't know how to react. Then the other girl came, and she called for her to leave him and to go play. But she used the kind girl's name; she had called her Tenten-chan. _

Naruto then awoke from his painful recollection and thought only one thought:

_'I'm sorry, Tenten-san. I'm sorry I couldn't dry your tears so many years ago.' _

When he finally brought his eyes up from the ground, he was face to face with onyx eyes, onyx eyes that resembled that of one Uchiha Sasuke. In fact, when Naruto studied the boy closely, he looked almost exactly like Sasuke, except something was missing. It was something that he couldn't, or wouldn't place.

"Mister, you shouldn't be hurting. I'm the only person who should be hurting," whispered the Sasuke doppelganger as he brought his arms around Naruto's neck, and rested his head on his shoulder.

"Why are you out so late? Why aren't you at home where it's warm?" asked Naruto softly, but he already knew the answer to the question.

"I don't have a house mister," confessed the boy as the rain pounded down on the two kneeling figures.

"What is your name?" asked Naruto as he brought his arms around the young boy's waist.

"My name is Sasuke," answered the boy as he buried into Naruto's shoulder. He didn't know why, but he felt at peace with this man; that he was someone that Sasuke could trust. Slowly, Naruto brought his head up and unclasped the young boy's shivering hands from his neck and brought Sasuke's face up to meet his as Naruto smiled empathetically.

"Then, Sasuke-kun, allow me to offer my house to you," offered the young man as he felt water drip onto his already drenched clothes from his matted down hair.

"But, why? Mister…Mister…" asked the young boy as he searched Naruto's eyeds for any kind of trickery or deception, but instead found only kindness and empathy in the man's blue eyes that seemed to glow dully in the rain.

"Because, Sasuke-kun, I want you to grow up in a home where you are loved and are welcome. And my name is Uzumaki Naruto," answered Naruto as he broadened his smile.

'**Kit, do you realize what you're doing?' **asked the Kyuubi skeptically, knowing that his container had no clue how big of a responsibility it was to raise a child.

'_Yes, I do. I'm giving this boy the home that I always wished I could have. And it is destiny that I do so, I feel it in my soul,'_ answered Naruto.

"I accept your offer, Naruto-otou-san," graciously accepted Sasuke. Naruto then picked him up in a fireman's carry gently, as if with practice, and carried back off to his apartment, where it may not be the best home, but a home it was indeed.

'_Tenten-san, I only wish that you could know how much that one display of affection has changed me,' _thought Naruto as he opened the door to his apartment and then gently placed Sasuke down. _'Otou-san, hmm, I could get used to this, I hope,' _thought Naruto as he went to fetch a blanket for his 'son' to wrap himself in.

_

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_

I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't as good as the others were, but I'm trying out a new writing style. Please tell me your opinion on this chapter and if I should rewrite it or not.

Also, I will now be devoting most of my time towards this story, so expectant much more frequent updates! (Also is the honorific for father spelled otou-san or tou-san?)

Ragnarok the Fallen Angel


	6. One Step Closer

Wow! You guys are so freaking amazing! I never in a million years imagined the stats for this story to be so freaking high! This chapter commemorates my 6000th hit, thanks you guys!

Answers:

Big Quise: In a way, yes, he's significant.

sasukeluva: No, I didn't forget to put in the date. The last chapter consisted of the late night/early morning after the first few chapters.

Thank you for all of your well appreciated reviews; I hope you enjoy this chapter:

* * *

**Chapter 6: One Step Closer**

Sasuke had never remembered living under a sturdy roof, let alone a rather large apartment. His eyes widened as he tried to take in all of the luxuries that his new father's apartment held: a kitchen that, although it was slightly dirty, was well equiped, a medium sized wooden table that was in very good condition, several pieces of well upholstered furniture, and that was without looking in the several doors planted at sporadic intervals in the apartment.

But what amazed him the most was the color scheme of the home; a white-washed ceiling, powder blue painted walls, and a cerulean blue carpeting on the floor except for in the kitchen, where there was wooden flooring. Sasuke was always good at judging a person's character by the way they dressed and which colors they dressed in, and Naruto baffled him completely.

Originally he guessed that Naruto was an energetic and creative person who craved attention but transitioning into a state of mourning due to the loss of a loved one. However, during this period he tended to feel much anger or aggravation, but shrouded it within a cloak of deception. And all of this he predicted just by the clothing that Naruto wore: a tight black shirt that covered the nape of his neck down to his waist with dark red stripes running down the sleeves and outlined with a deep purple stitching, dark orange pants that had a black spiral running up the left leg that started where his shirt ended and ended right below his ankles, and he also wore standard brown shinobi sandals.

However, his house signified that he enjoyed tranquility and the purity of truth and signified authority, loyalty, and perseverance as his strengths of character.

'_What the hell am I missing? I knew he was complex immediately after I saw him, but this is just ridiculous,' _mentally asked Sasuke. He had always prided himself on his ability to decipher a person's personality correctly a majority of the time, and was disappointed that the one person he couldn't decipher was the person who had took him into his house. Yet, he always lusted after challenges, whether it was challenging older and stronger children to fights or stealing food from a vendor, and felt that this would be the biggest challenge he had to face yet. He was soon brought out of his reverie by the falling footfalls of Naruto returning with a well-used towel and a set of clothing, which he handed to the young boy.

"Go into the room at the end of the hall, dry yourself off, and change your clothes; you'll get sick if you stay in those," commanded Naruto as he walked over to the kitchen and started to cook something. Sasuke complied with the orders wordlessly as he dragged himself to the room that Naruto indicated.

As he entered the dark room, he tried to feel around on the wall for a light switch. He eventually found one, and when he switched it on, he inhaled out of shock. The entire room was vandalized; the bed was ripped to shreds, graffiti completely covered the whitewashed walls and ceiling, clothes were strewn about the floor, a dresser was overturned, the wooden flooring was destroyed in some places, and there was something on the floor.

As he picked it up, he found himself looking at a photograph of four ninja: a tall man with grey hair wearing his hitai-ate so that it covered his left eye was standing behind three children and was smiling and had his hands placed on the heads of the two of them. The one on the right looked like a much younger version of Naruto, with much shorter hair and was wearing a hideous orange jumpsuit, glaring at the person on the left. In the middle was a girl with long pink hair wearing a red dress smiling and bringing her arms close to her body. Sasuke thought that she looked remarkably looked like the woman who helped her out several days ago after he challenged several of the senior academy students, who had gotten out of hand and had almost beat him to death. Then there was the person on the left; the boy with the spiky black hair wearing a blue shirt and beige colored pants brooding.

'_He…looks like me,'_ thought Sasuke in awe at how similar they were in appearance.

A strange, ferocious wind then picked up from seemingly nowhere, causing Sasuke to close his eyes and grasp the overturned drawer to anchor himself down. When the wind finally died down and Sasuke hesitantly opened his eyes to see what havoc the wind caused. But instead of seeing a horribly wrecked room, he found himself standing in a room that was immaculate with every piece of furniture placed perfectly against the walls. And on the bed that was placed against the far wall and was positioned perpendicular to the sidewalls sat a man with crimson eyes and short spiked red hair wearing an ensemble entirely composed of red silk. And coming out from behind the pants were nine tails that shared the same color as his eyes.

"So you've finally decided to return," bluntly stated the man, boring his crimson eyes into Sasuke's.

"Who…who are you? And what do you mean I've returned? I've always been here," retorted Sasuke defensively. _'Right?'_

"You should be honored to meet me Sasuke-kun; I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune, overlord of the nine layers of Makai," coldly introduced the Kyuubi as he elegantly stood up and walked over to Sasuke, who was shivering in fear. He had heard stories of the Kyuubi, the demon fox that, seventeen years ago, almost completely obliterated Konohagakure single handedly. "So I take it you remember me?" Sasuke hurriedly backed away from the approaching youkai until he was almost out of the door and back into Naruto's hallway. He tried to then run away from the kitsune, but found that his legs refused to carry him as he collapsed onto the ground.

"Stay away from me. Stay away!" screamed Sasuke as he tried to crawl away from his pursuer, but was soon captured in an iron hold by his pursuer, whose eyes seemed to gleam with psychotic glee.

"Don't believe everything you hear Sasuke-kun, if you do it'll come back to kill you in the future. And remember what I've shown you tonight, it will be useful to you in the future," advised the Kyuubi. And with that, another ferocious wind started up, and Sasuke once again closed his eyes. When he opened them, the youkai was gone, leaving Sasuke alone on the floor of the room, exhaustion overwhelming his senses and spiraling him into a deep slumber.

* * *

'I know that it's a bit too late for ramen, but he looks like he hasn't eaten in days, maybe even a week or so,' thought Naruto as he started to boil water for several cups of instant ramen. 'And anyway, as hard as it may be to believe it, I don't think he's ever had ramen before.' 

He then heard Sasuke scream at someone to get away. He immediately left the boiling water on the stove and ran into the room only to be thrown back into the front door to his apartment by an immense gale emanating from the room. He used the door, which now had a large indent in it where his body collided with it, as support as he got to his feet and once again tried to enter his room, this time finding that he could enter.

When he entered, everything looked perfectly fine, everything except for Sasuke. He was curled up into a ball on the floor sleeping, clutching something in his hands. When Naruto bent down to see what it was, he was upset at the sight of his very first picture of Team Seven ripped and wrinkled in the child's hands. That sight hurt him more than any intentional destruction of his property; that picture symbolized when he still held onto some shred of innocence and naivety and reveled in the spirit of youth.

Naruto then lifted up the boy and placed him on the bed gently, as not to wake him. He then peeled off Sasuke's wet clothes, leaving his undergarments on, and replaced them with the old pair of pajamas that Naruto had given him earlier. Finally, he pulled the down blanket over Sasuke's body before leaving the room.

_'It's such a shame that all of that ramen should go to waste,' _ruefully thought Naruto as he went into the kitchen to dispose of the ramen which he had just cooked. However, as he was about to dispose of the food, he began to rethink his actions. _'I mean, a little midnight snack wouldn't hurt,'_ he thought. So Naruto then emptied a portion of ramen into a bowl and quickly devoured it. He then unconsciously poured a second helping for himself and almost inhaled it. And the cycle repeated until all ten servings that he had prepared for Sasuke and him were all devoured, leaving Naruto with a slightly upset stomach.

"Shit, I should have known that I would've gone overboard like that," groaned Naruto as he sat himself down onto a futon. Almost immediately, however, Naruto saw a slight distortion in the shadows caused by the tree outside of his apartment. "Alright, what do you want? You can't hide for shit, did you know that?" asked Naruto as he prepared a kunai to throw at the intruder, only to be forced to hold it only an inch away from his own throat.

"So you think I'm horrible at hiding Naruto-san?" whispered a voice from the shadows of his apartment. "At least I'm smart enough not to allow an intruder into my apartment. It seems that you're still as much of a baka as you were when we were still genin."

"What do you want? I was just trying to sleep off a sore stomach," asked Naruto.

"Hokage-sama requests your presence immediately," replied his attacker, still in the shadows. Naruto then felt the compulsion to hold a kunai to his throat disappear, and then, to the attacker's chagrin, disappeared himself. The attacker then scanned the apartment, looking for Naruto really was, only to find a kunai set itself comfortabely against his neck.

"Yes, you really are horrible at hiding Shikamaru-san. And you shouldn't even have thought for a second that I would not detect an intruder in my own home. After all, I'm not a jōnin for nothing!" cheerfully stated Naruto as he stared down from the ceiling at Shikamaru's pineapple styled hair. Shikamaru just sighed in embarrassment at being outsmarted by Naruto, who was still considered thick headed and dense. Naruto then brought his kunai away from Shikamaru's neck and jumped onto the floor in front of him, grinning widely, just how he used to when they were younger.

"I'll say it again, go to Hokage-sama's office now. She usually doesn't work this late at night, and she's irritable. If you don't show up as soon as you can, it'll mean a living hell for all of us tomorrow," reiterated Shikamaru as he preformed the teleportation jutsu, causing him to almost sink into the shadows themselves.

"I wonder what Obaa-chan wants this late at night. I'm surprised she isn't sleeping off a hangover," muttered Naruto as he quietly walked into his room to retrieve his spare ninja uniform.

_'I still can't believe how unoriginal some ninja are. I mean, blue and green everywhere is so boring, it's nice to have some originality and brightness,'_ thought Naruto as he brought his clothing into the dimly lighted kitchen, the candles set around the room vicariously devouring their wicks. _'I myself prefer lighter shades like orange and red, but, at least it's only strongly recommended that we wear standard ninja uniforms, or I'd be screwed.' _He then began to unpeel his drenched clothing and folded them into small squares. He then placed them into a laundry basket he kept near the front door, which was slowly filling up with used clothes. After, he slipped on his spare outfit and bolted out of the apartment complex and towards the Hokage Tower, where undoubtedly an irritable Tsunade would be awaiting his arrival.

* * *

After being let in to the Hokage's office by her sleepy secretary, Naruto was faced with an enigma; Tsunade was doing paperwork, and she was smiling. He had never in the three years that the Godaime had protected Konoha seen her smiling while she was doing paperwork.

"Are…you okay Obaa-chan?" asked Naruto as he quietly closed the door behind him and stalked towards Tsunade's desk, bracing himself for her to explode at any second.

"Oh, Naruto, good, you're here," greeted Tsunade as she glanced up at Naruto and smiled at him, which was almost concealed by the thin veil of darkness that enveloped the room.

'_Oh shit I'm not gonna like this at all,' _thought Naruto fearfully as he waited anxiously for Tsunade to answer.

"I'll get straight down to the point; I'm assigning you an A-class mission that you are not allowed to refuse," announced Tsunade rather grimly. At this Naruto slightly frowned; on any other day he would have been ecstatic, but he did not forget his plans with Tenten or the fact that he now lent his house to an orphan, one that was sleeping in his bed at this very moment.

"Obaa-chan…what are the mission specifications?" asked Naruto resignedly after several seconds. Tsunade did not neglect to notice his downcast facial expression and couldn't help but to wonder why he was so uncharacteristically silent.

"The mission will begin at exactly nine o' clock this morning. You are to meet your client at Training Ground 14 and her escort will explain in depth your mission goal at that time. I have no idea how long it'll last, so you'll just have to deal with that. You will be executing this on your own for the next two weeks, and then Hyūga Hinata will assist you for the remainder of the mission. That is all that I can disclose to you at this time," informed Tsunade as she drowned herself in a cup of sake and proceeded to pour herself another glass.

"If that's all that you wanted to say, can I go back to bed now?" asked Naruto apathetically.

"Listen to me brat!" yelled Tsunade as she grabbed Naruto by his collar and brought him over her desk. "Do you know how much trouble I had to go through just so that you could get this mission? Now you better be damn appreciative about it!" Tsunade then shoved Naruto back into the wall, causing him to fall down. "Now leave so I can have some quiet," grumbled Tsunade as she returned to her paperwork. Naruto then left her office quickly as to not anger her even further and feel the full extent of her wrath.

"Stupid brat; you have no idea how much this will impact your future," mumbled Tsunade. She then finished working on a small packet of papers and put them into one of the many drawers in her desk, the only one that had four separate locks on it. She then gulped down one last sip of sake before dismissing Shizune, locking up the Tower, and heading back to her house.

'_You're one step closer Naruto; one step closer,' _thought Tsunade as she walked through the dark, damp streets of Konoha and felt the cold wind caress her body, as if to ensure her that she did the right thing. But for some strange reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that she had done her adoptive brother wrong.

And as she passed one of the few bars that were open, she could have sworn she could've seen Hyūga Neji exit it and disappear, but she dismissed it to the slight hangover that was brewing in her head.

I probably won't get to update in a while…please bear with me for that time.

Within the next two or three chapters Naruto and Tenten will have their fated "date."


	7. The Children that Call Themselves a Team

READ THIS NOTE BEFORE THE CHAPTER.

As I was rereading this story, I noticed some errors. They are:

Everyone is two years older than the original age I put down (Tenten's nineteen, Naruto's eighteen) except for young Sasuke. He is still ten.

Naruto is a jounin, not a chuunin as I said earlier.

The mission to retrieve Sasuke was ranked as an S-class mission, not an A-class.

Sorry for the late update but for the last week I had no Internet access and I had to rewrite this chapter because it had horribly stale dialogue.

(Line Break isn't working)

**Chapter 7: The Children That Call Themselves a Team**

Tenten was relieved, to say the least. Tsunade had given her a day's leave, saying that Tenten more than deserved it for the amount of work she had been doing over the past few months. So now, at eight o' clock in the morning, instead of training or going on a mission, Tenten was running her family's weapon shop, something that she had not been able to do for a long time.

As Tenten looked over her list of things to prepare before the store actually opened, she heard someone knocking rather loudly on the door. She sighed and reluctantly opened the door to inform the person that the store was not opened just yet. However, the last person she expected to be there was Naruto, along with a young boy.

"Ohayo Naruto. You do realize that we don't open for another half hour, right?" asked Tenten as she inspected Naruto. Tenten had to stifle laughter at the sight of Naruto's outrageously bright outfit, but her eyes narrowed as she immediately noticed the familiar appearance of the boy.

"Yeah I know, but I didn't come here to buy something. I know that this probably sounds really selfish, but could you do me a favor?" asked Naruto.

"What kind of favor is it?" asked Tenten as she leaned against the doorframe of her shop.

"I know it's your day off but could you look after Sasuke for me? I have a mission and I don't want him staying by himself," requested Naruto as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. However, Tenten caught all of the hidden messages in his requests; the silent plea, the distress, the urgency, and the empathy for the young boy.

"Sure; I could use some assistance in the shop anyway," answered Tenten cheerfully. However, her gaze showed an understanding, a very hazy one, but an understanding of Naruto's urgency. His eyes showed a deep, untainted gratitude, which pained Tenten to see. "Just don't forget about tonight Naruto."

"Don't worry, I won't," said Naruto as he ran off to Training Ground 14. For once in his life, Naruto decided that he would be early, and not just on time. When he arrived, however, he already found three people there, three genin by the looks of it.

"Hey, blondie, are you our new sensei?" obnoxiously asked one of the three. He had long, braided, light brown hair and was throwing kunai at a straw dummy with almost perfect accuracy. Naruto decided to ignore the boy and sat down against a tree and take inventory. However, the boy refused to be ignored.

"Hey, I asked you a question Blondie!" yelled the boy as he threw one of his kunai at Naruto with all of his strength. It seemed to cut the air in two as it flew towards Naruto's head. It came closer, and closer, until it was barely six inches from hitting its mark. Naruto had other plans for the kunai, though, and caught it by the dulled part of its blade and then threw it with five times the force back at the boy. None of the genin saw its entire passage as it seemed to teleport from Naruto's hand and then into the dead center of the neck of the training dummy behind the boy who had been insulting him, slightly grazing his cheek and drawing some blood.

"It's stupid to throw weapons at people who are obviously stronger than you," reprimanded Naruto, not once taking his eyes off of his supplies.

"Grr…answer me dammit!" yelled the boy. He then drew several shuriken and was about to throw them when someone grabbed his wrist, hard.

"Don't be a fool Kazuki; he has you outclassed in every aspect," commanded one of the other genin. Kazuki grumbled something about 'stupid blonds' and reluctantly returned to his target practice.

"You are Uzumaki Naruto-san, am I correct?" asked the genin who intervened earlier.

"Yeah, aren't you the observant one?" sarcastically answered Naruto as he finished taking inventory.

"I wish to know if the rumors about you are true," she responded, slowly advancing on Naruto.

"And which rumors would those be?" Naruto asked, seemingly oblivious to the girl's advancement.

"Your skill," she answered cryptically before attempting to strike Naruto, only to strike a log. She smiled, however, as she furiously went through several hand-signs that Naruto recognized all too well, her black hair covering her eyes.

'_Byakugan,' _thought Naruto as he jumpted down from the tree that he was hiding in and waited for the girl to attack. She quickly spun around, and proved Naruto right, her pearl colored eyes trained on Naruto's chakra coils, and she mentally gasped at the peculiar nature of the coils.

She then charged Naruto and attempted to strike the tenketsu on his arms with the customary Jyūken style, only find that almost all of her attacks were being blocked. Soon, though, after a failed Jyūken strike to Naruto's abdomen, she halted her assault.

"The rumors about you are true then," stated the girl as she deactivated her Byakugan with a smirk. "You are a pathetic drop out."

"Oh really; how am I weak if you could hardly land a hit on me?" asked Naruto, deeply agitated about being insulted by a twelve year old.

"Look again," smugly stated the girl. She then pulled back Naruto's sleeves to reveal that she actually had disabled several of the tenketsu in his arms. Naruto then brought them down mumbling about 'snot nosed Hyūga brats.'

"Yo," said a voice behind Naruto, startling him as he drew a kunai to combat whoever had come.

"Oh, Kakashi-sensei, it's just you. Are you this team's new sensei?" Naruto asked, jerking his finger towards the three genin.

"Oh, Hokage-sama didn't tell you Naruto?" asked Kakashi as his eyes scanned the pages of his new Icha Icha book.

"Tell me what?" warily asked Naruto.

"**You** are their new sensei," answered Kakashi disinterestedly.

"Nani?" asked Naruto, Hanabi, and Kazuki at the same time.

"But…Baa-chan said that I would be waiting here for a special A-class mission," whined Naruto.

"Yes, this is the special A-class mission. Unfortunately their previous sensei was killed on his last mission, and Hokage-sama specifically wanted you to take on this team. She also wanted you to come see her after you're done," explained Kakashi, his nose still buried in his book.

'_Baa-chan, how could you do this to me?' _thought Naruto dejectedly as he looked over his team.

"Oh yeah, I thought you might want these," offhandedly said Kakashi as he dug into his pouch and tossed two bells and a timer to Naruto, who started grinning maniacally, scaring the three genin.

"Oh yeah, Kakashi-sensei why're you here so early? You're usually late," asked Naruto.

"Oh, I did come late. I was supposed to be here an hour ago," answered Kakashi, smiling. Naruto just shook his head at his response.

"Well, thanks for the bells and timer Kakashi-sensei," thanked Naruto as Kakashi disappeared into a puff of smoke.

"Alright, all of you come here!" yelled Naruto. The three genin then reluctantly assembled in front of Naruto. "Let's start with introductions. Annoying boy, you start, then Hyūga brat, and then Dogboy," commanded Naruto.

"My **name **is Sataki Kazuki," the boy stated, pouting. "And don't forget it Blondie," he added snidely.

"Hyūga Hanabi," blatently said Hanabi.

"I'm Inuzuka Hige, and this is Midorimaru," mumbled Hige as he scratched his dark furred dog's head.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" enthusiastically introduced Naruto. "Before we do anything else, you guys are going to participate in a little test," said Naruto.

"Aw come on! We had to take enough tests in the Academy, I want to go on a damn mission!" yelled Kazuki.

'_Good, they're still fresh out of the Academy. I can still have some fun with them,' _thought Naruto. "This just isn't any test; this test will determine whether you are truly capable of becoming a genin."

"I believed that we became genin when we passed the Academy's test Naruto-sensei," sheepishly said Hige.

"Nope, that test was just to weed out the weaklings," answered Naruto. He then showed them the two bells and timer that had been given to him by Kakashi. "The object of the test is to acquire a bell. If you don't acquire the bell, you'll fail and will have to go back to the Academy. You have until eleven to complete the test. Now go!" yelled Naruto as he set off a timer; immediately all three of the genin ran off into the surrounding forests.

"Now let's see what you're capable of," mumbled Naruto as a plethora of kunai and shuriken bombarded him from the trees. Naruto smirked and began signing for one of his first original jutsu, Daikage bunshin no jutsu.

((LIne break))

"So, Sasuke-kun, how old are you?" asked Tenten as she was polishing one of the katana that were on display.

"I'm turning ten in a week," answered Sasuke as he was sweeping the floors and admiring the large quantities of weapons that the store sold.

"Oh that's great! Are you going to enroll in the Ninja Academy?"

"No, I'm not. I want to though," said Sasuke, yearning clear in his voice.

"Why don't you ask Naruto to enroll you, I'm sure he would," suggested Tenten as she finished polishing the katana and moved onto a fūma shuriken. .

"But…how…did…" sputtered Sasuke. He was sure that he didn't **say** anything that would give away his secret.

"Call it intuition," said Tenten, stopping her polishing to attend to a customer. "Hey Sakura-chan, what do you need?"

"I need three dozen senbon, thanks Tenten-chan," answered Sakura. Her eyes widened as she saw the young boy she had helped a few days ago. "Hey, are you feeling any better?" she asked him.

"Oh, it's…you. Yes, thank you for helping me earlier. But why were you in Naruto-tou-san's picture?" blurted out Sasuke, immediately covering his mouth afterwards.

"Naruto…tou-san?" asked Sakura quizzically.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun is from a foreign village and there it is customary to call someone who is supposed to look after you for a long period of time tou-san," calmly improvised Tenten. Sakura's face fell, though, when she heard the name Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun, right?" asked Sakura. Sasuke nodded in the affirmative. "Naruto, another man named Sasuke, and I were on a three person genin team when we were all twelve. We worked together for over a year on various missions and exams," explained Sakura wistfully.

"How come you guys aren't working together now?"

"Sasuke died," stated Sakura flatly. Sasuke was going to ask more into the subject, but was stopped by a steely gaze from Tenten, who counted out Sakura's senbon and exchanged them for Sakura's ryo.

"See you later Tenten-chan!" hollered Sakura as she left the store.

"Sasuke-kun, it's rude to pry into other peoples' personal affairs," scolded Tenten lightly as she returned to polishing the large shuriken.

"Tenten-san?" said Sasuke after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Can you teach me how to throw a shuriken?" asked Sasuke, hope evident in his voice.

"Yeah, sure. I'll just go lock the door and I'll take you out back," answered Tenten. But as she went to lock the door, someone entered the store.

"Tenten-chan, we need to talk," insisted the man as he held the door open with his open palm.

"About what Neji-kun?"

"Naruto-san."

((Line Break))

Naruto deftly dodged every single kunai and shuriken and finished signing his jutsu. Soon three other Naruto clones appeared in front of him, each one slouching. However, these clones weren't normal clones. These clones could communicate telepathically with Naruto, possess more endurance, can act independently, and act more like human beings. The only major downfall to the technique was the substantial amount of chakra needed to create them.

'**_Each one of you assess their one on one fighting capabilities. Spar for twenty minutes, and then allow yourselves to be dispelled,'_** commanded Naruto telepathically to each of his clones, who were each scowling.

'**_How come we have to do all of your dirty work?_**' complained one of the clones. Another downfall to this technique was the noticeable development of a human-like demeanor.

'**_Because I created you; now go!' _**dictated Naruto more forcefully, successfully causing each of the bunshin to immediately run off into a different direction, with Naruto also disappearing.

Naruto sat in a tree, awaiting the information that his clones should be sending in the next couple of minutes. However, he didn't expect one to arrive so quickly. He had supposed that the first one to come would be Hanabi's information, but this was on Hige.

"Naruto-sensei, just because my onii-san doesn't use his brains often doesn't mean that I don't either," coldly stated a voice below him. Naruto looked below just in time to see Hige and his dog executing a Gatsūga on the branch that he was seated on. He deftly back flipped onto the ground to meet the young Inuzuka and his dog as they landed.

"Are you surprised that I am the first one to beat your clone sensei? While your improved version of the kage bunshin is ingenious, there was one major flaw in your design, which allowed me to immediately recognize it as a clone and dispose of it as such," explained Hige as he ran a hand through his tangled black hair.

"Aren't you going to tell me what my flaw was?" asked Naruto.

"No; I may be young, but I'm sure as hell not stupid enough as to point out my enemy's mistakes," said Hige coldly as he and Midorimaru attacked Naruto again with a Gatsūga. Naruto quickly preformed a kawarimi, avoiding the attack only to find that Hanabi had defeated her clone opponent and was closing in on their location.

'_These guys are a lot stronger than we were at their age,' _thought Naruto as Midorimaru and Hige were assaulting him on two opposite sides. Naruto quickly formed the hand seals for the kawarimi as Hanabi finally found the two brawlers and attempted a Jyūken strike to his throat.

"Where'd he go?" wondered Hige when suddenly he felt himself being pulled into the ground as Naruto was where he was standing before.

" Doton: Shinjū Zansho no Jutsu (Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Technique)" said Naruto as he moved onto Hanabi, only to find that Kazuki finally defeated his clone and was advancing quickly. Naruto went through a complex combination of seals that appeared to be those of a dangerous jutsu while smiling widely, causing Hanabi to slightly falter in her movements. But that slight falter was all the time that Naruto needed to gain an offensive edge.

He quickly drew two kunai and threw them on opposite sides of Hanabi, which then became firmly embedded in a tree. But these kunai were attached by a strong, steel wire that yanked Hanabi along with the kunai to the tree and securing her to the tree, for now.

Naruto then directed to his attention towards Midorimaru, who reverted himself back into his true form. The dog attempted to grab the bells, which were attached to Naruto's belt. Naruto, however saw him and grabbed the dog in midair, pinned him to the ground, and then proceeded to use chakra wire to keep him on the ground.

It was then that a barrage of fūma shuriken and handle-less kunai honed themselves in on Naruto, who drew double-bladed kunai and deflected every weapon away from Midorimaru, Hige, and himself, who were all in the line of fire.

'_He shows no regard whatsoever towards his teammates' wellbeing,' _thought Naruto. _'He needs to be shown a lesson.' _Naruto then searched the entire area with his chakra and pinpointed the weapon user's exact location; he was crouching on a high branch in a tree thirty meters away. He then pulled out a summoning scroll and summoned a large weapon similar to a sickle but with a crescent blade on each end. He then swung it and threw one end while holding the other. The chain seemed to be infinitely long; as Naruto still stood on solid ground as his crescent shaped sickle embedded itself in the bark right below Kazuki's head, almost severing his jugular vein, and his head for that matter.

The chain then retracted, dragging Naruto at breakneck speeds in the air towards Kazuki while he was performing hasty handsigns for a genjutsu. By the time Naruto actually reached Kazuki, he was quaking in fear due to Naruto's Magen: Narakumi no jutsu (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique) and the shock of almost being decapitated was still fresh in his mind.

"Those who treat their teammates like trash are less than garbage," spat Naruto as he disappeared in a puff of smoke after pulling his sickle from the tree, allowing the three twelve year olds some time to escape from their confines, regroup, and then reorganize their attack.

"Time's ticking," mumbled Naruto as he leaned against a sturdy oak tree and appeared to fall asleep against it as the clouds slowly eclipsed the Sun's rays, casting shadows on the young man's face.

((Line Break))

Mwahaha…the evil power of cliffhanger! I'm sorry that it's taking so long to get the big Naruto and Tenten meeting, but hopefully it'll be worth it. Please review and leave any comments, concerns or questions.


	8. To Verify Your Own Existence

Another edit…apparently the Hana and Kiba's mother is named Tsume, and so the genin Tsume's name will be changed to Hige.

Enjoy the longest chapter I've ever written!

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**Chapter 8: What is the Extent You Will Go To Verify Your Own Existence?**

"What about Naruto Neji-kun?" asked Tenten, confused as to Neji's sudden interest in Naruto.

"Your interests in him," answered Neji as he walked further into the weapon shop.

"Sasuke, can you go wait at the training grounds for me?" requested Tenten as she fought to keep her emotions in check.

"Sure Tenten-san!" energetically answered Sasuke as he bounded out the door and into the small training yard behind the shop.

"What about my interests in Naruto?" demanded Tenten as she turned her back to him so he couldn't see the anger that was showing itself on her face.

"Stop playing dumb, you know what I'm here about," firmly insisted Neji as he placed a hand on Tenten's shoulder, which was swatted away.

"Why do you care about how I feel about him?" yelled Tenten as turned around to face her teammate and friend, her face bright with anger.

"It's because I don't want either of you getting hurt," whispered Neji as he brought up his hand to Tenten's cheek. "I want to make sure that you're not doing the right things for the wrong reasons."

"What do you mean?" asked Tenten, her attention fully captured by Neji's lips.

"I know that both of you have been hurt by the ones you've loved in the past, and I don't want you two to be together just because you feel sorry for each other, or to use the other as a spring to get out of mourning and then being tossed aside," explained Neji. Tenten's eyes became ice cold as soon as her mind registered his words.

"Get out," hissed Tenten as she pushed the Hyūga prodigy away from her, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "Get out of here now before I make you." Neji obliged, but when he reached the door he turned back towards her.

"I'm only trying to make sure you don't get hurt," claimed Neji before he left Tenten alone in the shop. She then sat down on the floor and hugged her knees to her chest as she tried to compose herself.

'_Would I really do that though; use Naruto and then cast him aside like a toy, a toy that is of no use and deserves it? Is that the only reason why I'm attracted to him? Or, would he do that to me to help get over Sasuke's death? No, he's not like that, but am I? Gah; damn it! Why the hell does he come the day that we're supposed to get together for dinner?'_ Tenten reflected as she rested her head on her knees. _'Will I ever have my happy ending, or will I just continue to live in a world of disappointments and masks?'_

"Tenten-san are you alright?" asked Sasuke as he reentered the store, concerned at the sight of the kunoichi huddled on the floor.

"Yes, I'm fine," answered Tenten as she looked up, giving Sasuke a smile. "I was just thinking about something. Now let's go train," she explained as she got onto her feet and followed Sasuke out into the back door

-----

"What's the status on Naruto-sensei?" asked Hige as the three genin sat in a tree, planning their next attack.

"He seems to be…sleeping?" confusedly answered Hanabi as she doublechecked with her Byakugan. "Yeah, he's sleeping."

"Baka," hissed Kazuki, still angry about being pinned to a tree and then falling prey to a simple genjutsu.

"That may be true, but he's a baka who can hand all of our asses to us with one hand tied behind his back," retorted Hige as Midorimaru yipped his agreement.

"All right, so then what do we do Dogboy?" sneered Kazuki.

"We work as a team," answered Hanabi drawing several kunai. "He couldn't possibly be able to beat all there of us at the same time." _'I hope not at least.'_

"I agree Hanabi, with the three of us working together, he should be overwhelmed," concurred Hige.

"Just one problem Princess: we're all either weapon or taijutsu specialists. We don't have any ninjutsu or genjutsu specialists, which mean that we **all** have to be near him," argued Kazuki.

"That doesn't mean we don't have any ninjutsu at our disposal though; we have the bunshin, kawarimi, and henge," retorted Hige.

"Yeah, a lot of help those'll be," said Kazuki as he rolled his eyes.

"I have several katon jutsu, that should be enough," added Hanabi.

"Fine, but do any of you actually have a plan?" asked Kazuki.

"Yeah, it's a little hazy, but I do," answered Hige. "First off, we'll decide if Naruto-sensei is actually there, or if it's just one of his clones. Kazuki, you'll throw a barrage of shuriken and kunai with exploding notes attached at the tree behind him while Hanabi watches his chakra coils and observes the fluctuation of them. There's a noticeable influx of chakra when a human awakens from slumber, am I correct?" Hanabi nodded her head.

"No matter what the person slumping against that tree should awaken. If on the off chance that it is Naruto-sensei, then we'll attack at the same time from three different directions, act as if you're actually trying to hit vital points but place exploding tags on strategic parts of his body, putting him in a stalemate; if he doesn't surrender the bells, he would be blown to bits. If in fact that fails, we'll wing it from there. However, if it's a clone, which is the more likely situation, Hanabi, you'll scan the area for him with your Byakugan and then we'll attempt to sneak up on him," explained Hige as both Kazuki and Hanabi nodded their heads in understanding. "Go Kazuki."

Kazuki smirked and drew a multitude of kunai and shuriken and wrapped exploding tags on all of them, and then threw them at the tree close to where Naruto slept. They were so close, in fact, that they were barely an inch from his body. However, he didn't wake up.

"Did he just…?" asked Hige, his mouth gaping.

'Yes, he just slept through a barrage of kunai and shuriken that were meant for the purpose of waking him up," answered Hanabi, hiding her disgust for just how lax the ninja society was, if they were to let someone as lazy as that join them.

"Baka-sensei, you are so totally screwed," sneered Kazuki as he uttered the activation word, causing the multitude of projectiles to explode.

"You idiot; we never agreed about that! What if you killed him?" hissed Hige as he waited for the smoke to clear.

"He's not dead," stated Hanabi. "In fact, he's still sleeping."

"You must be shitting me," uttered Kazuki. "So do we take this as a clone or as the real Baka-sensei?" he asked, but he got no response. "I'm going down and checking."

"Wait!" called Hige. "Stubborn ass," he muttered. He watched diligently as Kazuki disappeared into the smoke, and then reappeared several minutes later with two bells in his hand.

"Guys, I got the bells, and Baka-sensei didn't even notice!" hollered Kazuki as he held them up victoriously.

"Come on, let's go meet him," urged Hige, but was stopped by Hanabi.

"That's not Kazuki," hissed Hanabi. "His coils are too large and his posture has too much of an optimistic demeanor."

"So what do we do?" whispered Takashi.

"We go back to the basics," grinned Hanabi as she made the handsigns for bunshin no jutsu (art of the doppelganger). Hige caught on, grinned widely, and began making the handsigns for jūjin bunshin no jutsu (beast human clone technique).

Several seconds later, Hanabi's clone and Midorimaru jumped down from the trees and went to meet their "companion."

"Uh…guys, there are only two bells. Who do I give the other one too?" the doppelganger asked.

"You can give both of them to me Baka-sensei," said Kazuki as he walked out of the flames and smoke, his arms burned and looking very, very pissed. "Now you can either hand the bells over to me, or you can say bye-bye to your precious body," he threatened as he brought his hands together in a sign.

"Tsk-tsk, you brats are so demanding," sighed Naruto as he dispelled the henge. "A good strategy, to place an exploding note on me while my back was turned on you. But now, I have a question for you Annoying Boy; who would you have given the bell to?"

"Whoever would offer the better deal of course," smirked Kazuki.

"Wrong answer Annoying Boy," retorted Naruto. "Hyūga Brat, Dogboy, you both can come down now, the test is over," he hollered. And at that second, the timer went off, signaling the time limit. Both genin jumped down from their hiding spots, both downcast at failing the test. Naruto then passed each of them a bell, causing confusion to appear on all three of the children's' faces. "And I know that there was no exploding tag on my back, so don't try to threaten me Annoying Boy. But can anyone tell me what the point of this test was?" Hanabi and Hige both raised their hands. "Alright then, what was it?"

"Teamwork," they said in unison, grinning.

"Good, I figured as much. Both of you pass the first part of the test. Annoying Boy, you, however, fail. And because you failed, you will be tied to a post as you watch both of your teammates enjoy lunch, which they are forbidden to share with you," reprimanded Naruto.

"But…but…that's not fair," whined Kazuki. "I'm the one who would have gotten **both **the bells."

"Yes, but you missed the entire point of the test. If any one of you wishes to become ninja you must remember one important fact; 'ninja that break the rules are trash, but those who betray their friends are less then trash,'" explained Naruto.

He then produced two bento seemingly out of nowhere and gave one to Hanabi and the other is Hige as they went under the shade of an oak tree while Naruto tied Kazuki to the tree trunk and then went to deal with the still burning tree by walking onto a nearby pond, performing mizu bunshin (water clone) and then sending them into the flames, effectively putting them out before Naruto disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Tenten was impressed, to say the very least. Sasuke had been able to a vital point three times out of ten consistently over the last hour, an achievement that beat both her and her brother's records when they just learned how to throw kunai out of the water.

"Sasuke, are you sure you've never thrown a kunai before?" quizzed Tenten.

"Yeah, I'm positive," answered Sasuke, proud at his accomplishment. "Why, is there something wrong?"

"No, I was just wondering. Are you ready to learn how to throw shuriken now?" asked Tenten as Sasuke fetched the kunai that were embedded deeply in the training dummy. However, before anything else could happen, a loud knocking could be heard from the door. "I'll be right back," Tenten said as she jogged to the front of the store, where she saw Naruto waiting impatiently at the entrance.

"Oh, Naruto! Is your mission over yet?" asked Tenten cheerfully as she approached him.

"Not quite, but it'll be over soon. I came to fetch Sasuke now, though, to show him my charges," answered Naruto as he looked into Tenten's caramel colored eyes and how they seemed to sparkle in the sunlight.

"Your, charges?" asked Tenten, enchanted by Naruto's deep azure eyes.

"Yes; Baa-chan decided to make me the sensei to a squad of three genin behind my back and called it an 'A-class mission I'm not allowed to refuse,'" answered Naruto as he stepped closer to Tenten as the wind began to pick up, ruffling both of their outfits.

"I'm sure you'll be a great sensei Naruto. Does this mean that you want me to look after Sasuke everyday though?" asked Tenten.

"No, I couldn't ask you to do that. I was actually going to ask Hinata to look after him until she gets out of the hospital," responded Naruto as he brought his eyes away from Tenten's.

"You know, Naruto, I think you should ask Sasuke about attending the Ninja Academy," suggested Tenten not so subtly. "I'll go get him now," she offered as she jogged back into the back and came back a few seconds later with Sasuke in tow.

"Thanks Tenten, you don't know how much doing this meant to me," thanked Naruto, his eyes focused on Sasuke as the young boy beamed up at him.

'_You're right, I don't. But I want to know you Naruto, I want to help you!' _screamed Tenten in her mind. "Just remember, meet me here at five," reminded Tenten with a wink and a smile.

"Alright," replied Naruto, finally looking back up at Tenten and smiling. Tenten then unlocked her store and left to go tend it. "Sasuke-kun, hold onto me tightly," instructed Naruto. Sasuke wordlessly complied as Naruto preformed the seals for shunshin (body flicker) and seemed to disappear, only to reappear seconds later in front of his team, that was directly disobeying his orders by feeding their teammate.

'_Woah, was that…a…jutsu?' _asked Sasuke as he blinked furiously to rid the dust out of his eyes.

"What do you two think you're doing?" asked Naruto darkly, startling only Sasuke.

"We're intentionally disobeying your orders to preserve the ideals of the ninja," answered Hanabi in a textbook-like fashion.

'_Damn it, these kids are way better than we were; the Academy must finally be doing something right for once,' _thought Naruto, impressed at Hanabi's self-confidence in her analytical perception. "Correct; you all pass the second part of the exam. Meet me back here at nine o' clock tomorrow morning," waved off Naruto as he sighed. Both Hige and Hanabi thanked him and jumped into the trees, most likely heading home. Naruto then turned on Kazuki, who was still bound to the tree.

"So have you learned anything today bozu?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah, that your ideals suck," spat Kazuki, despite the fact that he was still constrained to a tree.

"Now now, you should speak to your elders respectfully Kazuki, especially the only adult around here. Which means that if I decide that you can stay tied to that tree for the rest of the day," threatened Naruto playfully as he wagged his finger at his student, who started laughing, and it wasn't a happy cheerful laughter either.

"You think that I'll take any of your shit. Well, let me tell you something; I don't take any shit from **demons.** That's right, I hear how the teachers, civilians, and your fellow ninja talk. They all say that you should be dead, that you're a demon, a monster, that…" venomously patronized Kazuki. But before he could finish his sentence, a fist connected with his jaw, hard. Kazuki's assaulter's face was stoic, in no way contorted, but his eyes were a different story. His eyes held an unprecedented sensation of rage, vengeance, and malice that were outclassed only by the former Uchiha Sasuke.

"You will not speak of Naruto-tou-san that way, ever. If you do, I'll kill you," deadpanned Sasuke as he grasped Kazuki's neck and squeezed, causing Kazuki to start gagging.

"So, you're so weak that you send an academy student after me?" wheezed out Kazuki, grinning.

"Sasuke-kun, let him go," commanded Naruto, his face completely impassive.

"No, he needs to be taught a lesson," retorted Sasuke as he constricted Kazuki's throat even more, making it even harder for the genin to breathe.

"Violence does not teach anything Sasuke, it merely destroys. Now release him," authoritatively ordered Naruto. Sasuke reluctantly complied and hurried to follow Naruto, who was leaving the training ground. None of the three noticed as a pair of pearl grey eyes picked up every shred of conversation and movement from the three.

---------

"Naruto, I take it that you're reporting in on your mission?" inquired Tsunade calmly as she watched the two people stand rigid at attention, both completely stoic.

"Hai," answered Naruto sharply, surprising Tsunade.

'_I would have thought that he'd be in here complaining about his team or something,' _thought Tsunade with concern as she emptied her sake glass. "And…what's the status?"

"Why did you assign me to be a leader a bunch of kids? Couldn't you have given me a really cool mission like an assassination or something?" whined Naruto as Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"No," she answered flatly, and then raised her hand to silence Naruto as he was about to speak again. "Let me finish brat. The reason why I gave you this mission was because if I didn't, there'd be no shot in Hell of you becoming Hokage. This is so because, once a nomination is set forward, it must be then approved by the Council of Elders and the Council of Clans; if both are not passed by a majority then the nomination is rejected," explained Tsunade. "However, you have no chance of being approved by the Council of Elders."

"Then why the hell is this mission so important?" demanded Naruto rather loudly, which was quickly silenced by the Godaime's fist colliding with the wall behind her.

"Because brat, there's a slight loophole. If you can get approved unanimously by the ten members of the Council of Clans, it overrides the decision of the Elders," ground out Tsunade through her teeth. "And all three of your students are members of a clan that holds a seat in the Council that are either not in your favor or have alliances with those against your favor."

"So what you're saying is that the only chance that I'll have of becoming Hokage is basically sucking up to these kids' families?" demanded Naruto angrily.

"Unfortunately, yes," sighed Tsunade. "Now report on your mission."

"The team shows great potential, both Hyūga Hanabi and Inuzuka Hige show exceptional analytical and intellectual prowess and are also willing to work as a team effectively. However, Sataki Kazuki has shown an opposition to work with his companions, at one point even endangering the well being of one of them. Both Hanabi and Hige passed the first and second part of the test, while Kazuki failed both," aloofly reported Naruto.

"Well now Naruto, that is a problem. Because out of your three students, the Sataki clan is the one that most strongly opposes you and wants you dead," said Tsunade. "They also have strong alliances with several clans who oppose you. How does he view you?"

"Badly," sulked Naruto at the realization that his dream may not become reality.

"Don't worry brat, I doubt that he'll think that way of you for long," consoled. Tsunade. "And why do you have a kid with you?" Naruto seemed to cheer up somewhat as he heard the question.

"Oh, yeah; Sasuke-kun wants to enroll in the Ninja Academy," answered Naruto.

'_Sasuke?'_ thought Tsunade as she reached into one of her drawers and took out several different forms. "Here are all the forms you need to fill out. I need them back within the next five days," said Tsunade. "Unless there's anything else you want to complain about, you're dismissed," said Tsunade as she poured herself another cup. Sasuke walked over to Tsunade's desk, picked up the stack of papers and muttered an arigato before following his caretaker out of the tower.

"So, Sasuke-kun, we have to get you a check-up," stated Naruto as they neared his apartment complex. By now the Sun was near its peak, radiating an immense amount of heat on the village.

"A check-up, why?" complained Sasuke.

"The Ninja Academy needs to have a recent database of your health," explained Naruto as they entered his complex. "Why, do you not like check-ups?" asked Naruto.

"No…I detest them," answered Sasuke. "They poke and prod in places I'd rather keep secret," admitted Sasuke as he watched Naruto unlock the door of his apartment and then opened it, to a space that was unrecognizable and under no circumstances be called a home.

"Sasuke-kun, I need you to go back to Tenten's shop and tell her that I'm sorry but I need her to look after you again," stoically commanded Naruto in a very quiet voice that seemed incongruous for the boisterous man.

"But…Tou-san…I," stammered Sasuke, too overwhelmed with a mix of anguish and disgust to properly form words.

"Now," repeated Naruto, much more brashly than before. Sasuke just nodded dumbly and ran as fast as he could to escape the Hell that he had just seen. He felt the wind buffet his face and unwanted, salty tears fall away from his eyes, as he seemed to move in slow motion towards his destination. But finally, he reached his destination and knocked hardly and repeatedly on the door. After what seemed to be an eternity, Tenten opened the door to be welcomed by the sight of the disheveled Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun, are you alright? What happened?" asked Tenten with concern as she led him into her family's apartment, which was attached to the weapon store by a back door.

"Tou-san…sorry…stay…apartment," sobbed Sasuke into Tenten's blouse.

"Shh, calm down. I'll make some tea and when you compose yourself you can tell me what happened," comforted Tenten, anxious as to Sasuke's sudden reappearance, along with his fragmented story. She sat him down into a wooden chair and turned on a teakettle as she patiently waited for Sasuke to calm down. Finally, after several minutes he began to calm down as Tenten served them each a mug of tea, which he graciously drank.

"Now tell me what's wrong," prompted Tenten, attempting to act calm, but the anxiousness was unmistakable in her words.

"Naruto-tou-san told me to come back to your shop and to tell you that he's sorry but he needs you to look after me again," shakily recited Sasuke as he took a deep sip out of the hot tea.

"Why are you so shaken up?" demanded Tenten, dread and fear gripping her heart. She knew that Naruto wasn't the type of person to do something like this so impersonally, and knew that something was wrong.

"His apartment…it was…it was…" stammered Sasuke, not knowing, or willing, to verbalize what he had seen. A hard and cold look enveloped Tenten's eyes as she immediately stood up from her seat.

"Sasuke-kun, stay here. My otōto and my kaa-san are both home, they'll make sure you'll be alright; I'm going to go see Naruto," explained Tenten as she exited her shop, terror gripping her very being.

Finally, she reached his apartment, all the way up on the eighth floor, the only one on the eigth floor, and knocked on the door, only to find it ajar. She then found out why Sasuke was so upset.

'_This, this is horrible. So much blood, so much destruction, so much…so much,' _thought Tenten as she started to visibly shake. Not much caused her to shake these days, even killing was not that much of a problem anymore, but the sight in front of her was worse than anything she would ever see on a field.

"Naruto, where are you?" whispered Tenten as she took a step into the boy's apartment, reading the graffiti that would permanently soil his apartment.

"DEMON"

"MONSTER"

"DIE"

"BURN IN HELL, WHERE YOU BELONG"

"LEAVE"

"GET THE HELL OUT OF KONOHA"

"FILTHY DEMON CUR"

These were only some of the things that Tenten read, and they enraged her even more than when she first stepped into the apartment.

"Naruto, where are you?" called Tenten. No response. She then saw that one door, at the other end of the hall, was slightly open. She then completely opened it, and found him, Uzumaki Naruto, on the burnt floor, holding a mostly charred picture.

"Naruto, I want to help you," said Tenten as she walked over to Naruto, scattering ashes as she walked towards him.

"You can't."

"I will."

"You won't."

"I won't make the same mistake as I did eleven years ago. I refuse your refusal to help," argued Tenten as she sat next to the impassive young man and embraced him, Sakura's words ringing through her head.

"_It's the side that has to bear all of the weight that he takes off of us. That's the Naruto who is beaten and abused and can't stand living; it's the side of him no one wants to see."_

"Naruto you don't have to be alone."

"I choose to be alone."

"Why?" The last words were hardly above a whisper, as Tenten brought her face close to Naruto's.

"To verify my own existence. By feeling pain, I know I'm alive. By knowing I'm alive, I know that I can dream. That's all I know how to do Tenten-san. My entire life has been one fucking dream, and I have been working constantly towards that one dream. But now, now that dream may never come to pass. Then what will I be left with? Can you tell me that? Will you be able to help me when there's only pain to live for, the next vandalism, or the next act of scorn? Will you Tenten?" asked Naruto, his tone getting angrier and louder with each word he spoke, until he reached a yell.

"Grow up Naruto," coldly stated Tenten as she stood up to face him eye to eye. "You seriously think that by isolating yourself away from others they won't see your pain? It may be true that I have no clue how bad you were abused when you were a child, or even now, as an adult, but I know how it's like to live behind a façade. I also know that they're useless, because no matter how hard you try to hide your pain, they'll see it, and they'll pity you for it. How even though they try to help, they can't, because they have no clue how you feel.

But Naruto, I'm telling you this now; I know how it feels, and I can at least try and help you. Now, please, let me help you, and together, maybe, we can get through this never-ending dream and find peace at the end," offered Tenten, as silent tears snaked down her cheeks. The two stood facing each other, each a mirror of the other, as they each tried to stare into the other's soul. Finally, Naruto broke the silence.

"Tenten…how far are you willing to go to help me?" asked Naruto.

"As far as you need me to go," answered Tenten, mentally preparing herself for the revelation of the cause of Naruto's angst.

"You can leave if you're disgusted with me after I tell you Tenten-san," said Naruto.

"No, Naruto-san, I would never abandon anyone in need of help. That is my nindo," answered Tenten.

"You know how about the Kyūbi attack nineteen years ago?" asked Naruto, his eyes filled with apprehension.

"Yes," nervously answered Tenten.

"He still lives, Tenten. And he lives within me, sealed by the Yondaime Hokage himself as his final act of service to the village," said Naruto, as he showed Tenten the seal that was imprinted on his abdomen.

Tenten was not prepared for that.

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How'd you like it? It's twelve pages long and it was incredibly hard to write. Please review!


	9. The Entity Known as Demon

Okay…I'm really sorry for the slow update at such an important part in the story, but high school's a bitch. I have so many freaking projects and tests that it's a miracle that I can even update. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Thank you _Anonymous BETA readers_ for your editing this (and future chapters)!

Two things I'd like to say:

My goal for this story is to reach one hundred reviews (and be the eighth NaruTen fic to do so) by chapter ten; please help me achieve this goal by reviewing!

And thank you once again for reviewing and/or supporting this story!

**Chapter 9: The Entity Known as Demon**

She waited outside of the door to the hospital room and stood rigid, concentrating on trying to sense if its occupants were awake, or aware of her presence there.

"It's rude to spy on people," called one of the room's occupants, her cousin. Stiffening even further at the prospect of being thought of as rude, Hanabi entered her sister's hospital room; finding that there was only her sister, her cousin, and herself.

"Hinata-nee-chan, Neji-san," greeted Hanabi as she sat down into one of the hospital chairs.

"Hanabi-sama," greeted Neji just as dispassionately as his younger cousin as he held his wife's hand.

"Konichiwa Hanabi-chan, how was your first day as a full fledged ninja?" questioned Hinata as she cradled the sleeping Lee in her arms.

"It was…informative," answered Hanabi, trying to find the exact word to describe her training.

"Who're your teammates?" asked Neji bluntly, causing Hanabi to slightly scowl. She never could understand how Hinata could treat her cousin so kindly despite his antagonistic disposition.

"Inuzuka Hige and Sataki Kazuki," answered Hanabi. "Inuzuka has the potential to become one of the greatest assets of our team, while Sataki is more of a liability than anything," analyzed Hanabi, not failing to notice Neji stiffen after hearing the identities of her teammates. "Is something wrong Neji-san?"

"No, nothing's wrong Hanabi-sama; but you neglected to mention the identity of your squad leader," answered Neji.

"Yes, my sensei," started out Hanabi, trying to think of how to describe her sensei. "Well, he's very…idiosyncratic; I can't say that I've met anyone even remotely similar to him before. Overall, however, he's an enigma. He acts like an idiot sometimes, but he's a ninja of excellent caliber, besting all three of us with hardly a scratch on him. Truth be told, I'd be afraid to face him in battle," evaluated Hanabi slowly, and then nodded with the satisfaction of her words.

She then became confused when she saw Hinata stifling a laugh and Neji, **the **Hyūga Neji, grinning slightly.

"So Uzumaki Naruto-san is your sensei?" asked Neji.

"Yes, he is," confirmed Hanabi, not even bothering to ask how her cousin knew. He always just did, and by now she had just accepted that fact.

"But what is the real reason you came here Hanabi-sama?" asked Neji as he folded his arms over each other.

'_Damn; how does he know me so well?' _thought Hanabi.

"Because we're both Hyūga," said Neji. Hanabi slightly twitched out of annoyance.

"I have a question about Naruto-sensei," stated Hanabi, fully regaining her composure.

"Go ahead," Neji prompted.

"Nee-san," this time Hanabi was careful to direct her question towards her sister, "who is Uzumaki Naruto?"

"What do you mean?" asked Hinata, trying to act clueless, but Hanabi knew her sister too well and instantly saw that information was being withheld from her.

"Uzumaki Naruto is not normal: first of all, the odd birthmarks on his cheeks aren't natural, it's obvious. Second, when he was administering the bell test, I sensed dual chakra coils, which I've never seen before. And third of all, he doesn't act normally. I can't place it exactly…but I know that Naruto-sensei is not ordinary," Hanabi stated.

"You're right, Hanabi, but that is something you will have to figure out on your own," answered Hinata.

"I understand onee-san. You should check up on Naruto-sensei and Tenten-san though," said Hanabi as she got up from her chair and was about to leave the room, but was stopped by her cousin grasping her shoulder. Hanabi's first reaction was to activate the cursed seal on Neji's forehead, but she was able to restrain herself, if only for the sake of her sister.

"What do you mean?" asked Hinata, her words saturated with concern.

"Naruto-sensei appeared to act disturbed and disgusted after talking with Sataki when dismissing us and Tenten-san appeared to be brooding at the Memorial Stone," explained Hanabi as she smartly smacked Neji's hand off of her shoulder and left the couple alone, once again noticing Neji's tensing up at hearing one of her teammates' names.

'_Interesting,' _she thought as she closed the door behind her.

"Do you think that…?" started Hinata, unable to finish her sentence.

"Maybe, but we can't be sure. I'll go find Tenten-chan," said Neji as he hurriedly followed his cousin out of the room.

"Alright then, Lee, we're going to go visit Naruto-oji-san," whispered Hinata to her sleeping newborn as she slowly got up from her bed and walked out of the room in only slippers and a hospital gown, her infant in her hands.

No one seemed to notice that she had left her room.

---

Kazuki was pissed off, to put it mildly. First, he had been put on a squad with an idiot for a teacher. Then, that same idiot bested him, Sataki Kazuki, **head of the Sataki clan**, in battle. And to make matters even more humiliating, he was tied to a tree and then left there until someone decided to come along and release him; that someone happened to be Hyūga Hanabi.

'_Kami, I hate her,' _scornfully thought Kazuki as he thought about the rather painful discussion with the Hyūga heiress after Naruto and Sasuke had left, which ended up in some of his tenketsu being sealed and a rather annoying cross analysis of his conversation with their sensei.

And now, to add even more insult to injury, the cousin of that Hyūga was now standing at his doorstep.

"Hello Neji, may I help you?" Kazuki sneered at the Hyūga towering over him.

"What did you do?" Neji asked coldly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Kazuki, blatantly lying.

"With Naruto-san," Neji answered even colder than before. Kazuki felt shivers run up and down his spine after meeting Neji's gaze.

"Oh, you mean Baka-sensei. I only put him in his place. Now can I go sleep now; your bitch of a cousin sealed off the tenketsu in my arms," explained Kazuki as he attempted to close the door in Neji's face, but Neji held the door open forcefully with his hand. "What is it?" the genin asked exasperatedly.

"You will show both Naruto-san and the Hyūga clan the proper respect," Neji almost growled.

"Says who? Anyway, what would your wife think of you when she finds out that you, an ANBU member, threatened a genin?" sneered Kazuki.

"I cannot speak in her stead, Kazuki-kun, but I can tell you that your father would feel deeply dishonored by your actions," calmly stated Neji. He seemed to have struck a nerve as Kazuki turned red with anger and balled up his hands into fists.

"What the hell would you know about my father you inferior branch house member!" shouted Kazuki.

"I knew him very well before he defected, Kazuki-kun, and I can tell you that he was a man of dignity, honor, and tradition. But if he could see you now, he would never have left you to be the heir of the Sataki clan," Neji told the angry boy.

"Who the hell do you think you are barging into my house and admonishing me for doing what's right! And Hell will freeze over by the time that a **woman** becomes the head of this clan," spat Kazuki.

"Your sister would have made a much better clan head than you," retorted Neji before he allowed the young clan head to close the door.

'_And now to find Tenten-chan,' _thought Neji as he walked away from the Sataki household and towards the Memorial Stone.

---

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata called out as she knocked on the door again. "Naruto are you home?"

"Hinata-chan, allow me," Hinata's partner said. Hinata moved out of the way of the pink haired kunoichi.

"Oi; Naruto! Open up!" Sakura yelled as she pounded hard on his door.

"Thanks for coming with me, Sakura-chan," thanked Hinata. "And also for lending me some clothes; I wasn't exactly thinking straight when I left the hospital." She blushed when she said this as she remembered how the hospital gown was just a **tad** too small for and gained her some unwanted attention from some men. Luckily for her Sakura was getting off of her shift and pounded the perverts.

"It's no problem," smiled Sakura. "Naruto we know you're home! Open up your damn door!" Sakura roared and pounded the door a little too hard, causing it to fall inward.

"Oh Kami," was all Sakura could utter when she saw Naruto's dismantled apartment. "Whose idea of a sick joke is this?" she demanded to no one in particular.

"Hinata, I need to speak with Naruto privately," insisted Sakura.

"He's told me…about it I mean," said Hinata as she fought hard to keep back indignant tears.

"But where is the boy?" wondered Sakura aloud as she frantically searched the apartment for any trace of him. "He's not here, the boy's missing," she muttered frantically.

"The boy?" asked Hinata.

"Naruto did something impulsive, again, and decided to take in an orphan, who's currently missing," Sakura explained. "Do you know where Naruto's room is?"

"Yes…it-it's do-down the ha-hall," stammered Hinata.

"Come on, we're going to go find the baka," Sakura insisted as she gently pushed the stunned Hinata, who still cradled her newborn in her arms, down towards the hall and away from most of the hate writing, towards Naruto's room.

"Naruto?" Hinata called as Sakura gently pushed open the door.

They found Naruto, but along with him, they found a man bearing kitsune ears and nine, long, blood red tails hovering above him.

"So, Kit, why didn't you tell me that you invited friends over?" asked the man as he turned his head to smile at the girls. But his smile was feral, and was that of a wild beast.

"Don't touch them!" shouted Naruto as he jumped onto his feet.

"And why shouldn't I; they both have made your life miserable. Especially the pink haired, Haruno Sakura correct?" the man asked as he approached the two girls.

"I told you not to walk any closer to them!" shouted Naruto as he tried to restrain the Kyuubi's manifested body, but was stopped by a wrist firmly grasping his own.

"I have my own business with them," the Kyūbi stated as he thrust Naruto backwards and advanced first upon Hinata.

"You…you are the mo-mo-monster that has caused Na-Naruto-kun so much pain," stammered Hinata as she backed away from the kitsune. "Why? Why did you have to cause him so much pain?" Hinata asked, tears of anger and sorrow running down her face.

"Oh, I'm a monster am I? Who's the one who sealed me into their own son? Who's the one that made a defective seal that allowed my chakra to corrupt his entire body? Who has ignored and hated him for the mistake of his father? Who has repeatedly assaulted him? It certainly wasn't me Hinata-san.

You see, unfortunately while my emotional and physical traits emerged in the kit, his traits have had a counter effect on myself. So now I can only keep up this manifestation of my demonic body by using an exponential amount of chakra and now, unfortunately, feel emotions unnatural to me, towards humans for that matter, as much as it may disgust me. It pains me to say this, but I do respect you Hinata-san. Not many people can be so objective when faced with so much negative influence.

And so, my dear, I have a gift for you. Please don't try and run away, because I don't want to have a reason to kill you," retorted the Kyūbi as he walked even closer to HInata.

"Ah yes, fear is a good scent on you Hinata-san," remarked the Kyūbi carnivorously as he bore his teeth in a feral grin. Then, suddenly, one of his tails shot out from behind him and hovered above the newly awoken Lee's head and then slowly dug itself into his forehead. "Don't worry, Hinata-san, for this is merely a chakra manifestation of my body," remarked the Kyūbi as he saw that Hinata was beginning to sob hysterically and start to shake. The Kyūbi then withdrew its tail quickly, only slightly startling Lee, who was surprisingly complacent.

"He may want to wear a bandage to cover the seal on his forehead though," he remarked as what appeared to be ink slowly materialized itself on the infant's forehead.

"That's enough you bastard fox!" roared Naruto as he radiated a large wave of killing intent. "I won't standby while you…"

"…endow Hyūga Lee with power that negates his defects?" Kyūbi finished.

"Wh-what do you mean by…by…defects?" stammered Hinata, who was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"What I mean is that some children born out of incest marriages in clans possessing kekkei genkai have mutated genes, either completely changing the bloodline or making it a hindreance. It was obvious from even the first time I sensed his chakra," explained the Kyūbi.

"But…wh-what's wrong with him?" questioned Hinata as tears cascaded down her porcelain cheeks.

"Now where's the fun in that Hinata-san? Did you really expect me to do anymore than to repay you for assisting Naruto?" questioned the Kyūbi. Hinata solemnly shook her head and clutched her child even closer to her.

"That's enough," whispered Naruto angrily. "Why? Why do you choose now to suddenly appear; tell me!" demanded Naruto.

"Sorrow best compliments sorrow," answered the Kyūbi. "Just like how love is best complimented by itself." He then walked over to the stunned pink haired kunoichi, who was scared to death after seeing just a sample of the Kyūbi's powr.

"Ah yes, the cherry blossom; the one who he has longed for all of his life yet was rejected time and time again. You chose the defected Uchiha over him, even despite the fact that he had defected and that Naruto had already proven time and time again that he was more worthy of your attention than he was. And now that he's dead, you've suddenly decided that he's worthy of you. You are pathetic. Do you have any words to say in your defense?" the Kyūbi asked. Sakura merely bowed her head and spoke no word.

"Then I'll pass my judgment on you," smirked the Kyūbi as he leaned closer to Sakura, until their faces were almost pressed together. "Your undying devotion to the Uchiha prodigy will be the death of the one you covet the most," he prophesized in a whisper, so that neither Hinata nor Naruto could hear his words. He then swiftly pulled back from the stunned Sakura.

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura, frightened by the demon's prophecy.

"You'll discover soon enough, but for now I bid you farewell, and the next time we meet, I won't be as kind," threatened the Kyūbi as his body disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Immediately after Naruto steadied himself against the wall as the demon's chakra reentered his body.

"Hinata…I'm…I'm so so sorry," apologized Naruto to one of his most precious people.

"It's n-not yo-your fault Na-Na-Naruto-kun," responded Hinata morosely.

"I thought that the seal was secured," voiced out Sakura, which was only met by the mournful gaze of Naruto.

"It was…for a while," Naruto answered. "It's been unstable ever since I returned from the Sound mission. Now Kyūbi can manifest his own body for a short period of time and possesses better control over his own chakra," confessed Naruto.

"Naruto…he told me something," Sakura whispered as tears welled up in her eyes.

"What? What did he say?" asked Naruto frantically.

"He told me that 'your undying devotion to the Uchiha prodigy will be the death of the one you covet the most.' Do you know what that means?" demanded Sakura. Naruto only turned his eyes to the ground. "Do you? What does it mean?" insisted Sakura. "Naruto?"

"Pl-please Na-Naruto-kun, we only want to help," said Hinata, regaining her composure enough to stop most of her stuttering.

"No," retorted Naruto. "It has to do with a personal matter."

"Sasuke?" asked Sakura. Sakura guessed by the surprised look in his eyes. "I won't force you to tell us Naruto, but I just want to let you know that we're here for you if you need it," Sakura responded. She smiled slightly at the sight of Naruto visibly relaxing. She couldn't even imagine how stressed out he was feeling at that moment. "Now can you please tell us what the hell happened to your apartment?" indignantly requested Sakura.

"I guess I don't have a choice, don I?" asked Naruto with a defeated tone. Sakura and Hinata both shook their heads.

"Alright then…obviously you two know about Furball," began Naruto.

"**I told you not to call me that,"** the Kyūbi growled.

'_Shut up, I don't want to deal with you right now,' _snapped back Naruto.

"This," he said as he gestured to his apartment, "is the citizens' way of retribution. They believe that by destroying all of my material possessions that I'll just give up hope and leave them alone here. But, as you can see, I'm still here," explained Naruto.

"How long have they been doing this for?" demanded Sakura. "How many times have you had to rebuild from virtually nothing?"

"Too long and too many times," grimly replied Naruto.

"You're not telling us som-something Naruto-kun," voiced Hinata as she held her son close and kept her gaze focused on him, trying not to notice the symbol now etched into his forehead.

"I messed up," replied Naruto. "I let her find out, and now she hates me."

"Who?" sympathetically asked Sakura as she embraced her friend, trying to comfort him, but Naruto just remained rigid and solemn.

"Tenten," said Naruto as he let his head rest on his friend's shoulder.

"You're wrong," insisted Hinata.

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto.

"Just like with Lee's…end-endowment…Ne-Neji may act wary at first, but in the end I know that he'll lo-lo-love our son all the same," explained Hinata metaphorically.

"Do mean that…she…loves…me?" asked Naruto cautiously. Ever since his failed attempt with Hinata, he had been wary of any relationship deeper than good friendship.

"Naruto-kun, that is for you to find out on your own."


	10. The Ninja Known as Cupid?

**Chapter 10: The Ninja Known as Cupid?**

No tree near the Memorial Stone was safe from Tenten's barrage of weapons as she flung them from her hands; shuriken of all sizes and varieties embedded themselves into the trees as swords and other close range melee weapons lopped large limbs off of the surrounding trees.

_'I'm still not strong enough. I need to become even stronger,' _Tenten thought as she launched several shuriken from her hand, each one landing with a satisfying thunk on the tree's trunk, each one within a centimeter from each other.

_'To preserve Lee's memory,' _thought Tenten as she slashed at one of the tree's branches with a chakra infused wakizashi, slicing it clear off.

_'To show my own worth,' _she thought as she started going through some kata with a quarterstaff, not failing to notice the presence behind her.

_'To prove that I truly love him,' _she thought as, in the middle of her kata, pivoted her backfoot sharply and swung around the quarterstaff at breakneck speeds to catch the intruder in the upper body. But instead of hearing the rewarding sound of reinforced steel come into contact with bone, there was a clang of metal meeting metal.

"It's nice to see you also Tenten-chan," remarked Neji as he pushed the offending metal pole away from him.

"You," she growled. "This is your fault!" she yelled as she pointed her finger at him accusingly.

"What is my fault?" Neji asked, feigning innocence. In fact, he formed a hypothesis after visiting the Sataki clan head, and his belief in it was already beginning to be proven.

"You placed the doubts about Naruto in my head!" Tenten shouted, "Because of you I…I…" stammered Tenten.

"Don't love him anymore?" guessed Neji as he walked closer to his former love.

"I'm…I'm not sure anymore," Tenten whispered. "I'm not sure if I love him or if I just need to be loved. After everything he's already gone through, I just don't want him to hurt even more because of a stupid mistake." She then felt a pair of arms embrace her and pull her into the chest of one Hyūga Neji.

"Do you know; of what's in him?" Tenten asked.

"Yes, I do, but does it really matter that much if I do know?" Neji answered, which prompted a small smile from his past lover.

"Neji-kun…thank you," said Tenten as she hugged Neji back. "But…what…what am I supposed to do?"

"You need to figure that out for yourself," answered Neji as he held onto Tenten for a few more minutes, committing every aspect of her to memory as the gentle wind caressed their faces, until they finally released each other.

"Would you like to accompany me to dinner?" Neji asked, knowing full well her answer ahead of time.

"Don't you remember? I have a date tonight," she answered as she left Neji at the Memorial Stone, gazing thoughtfully at the Memorial Stone.

_'Do you see her now Lee? How happy she seems? It's the happiest that she's been since you've died; I only hope that it'll last,' _thought Neji as he finally turned around and decided to find out what out what had happened between Hinata and Naruto.

----

"Two pork ramen," the teen ordered as he leaned back on the stool and faced the boy sitting next to him, grinning. "So, how was your first taste of what a real ninja is?"

"It was alright," the boy answered as he tapped his fingers rhythmically on the wooden counter as he inhaled the delicious smell of ramen being cooked, emerald eyes bright with anticipation.

"So who's the unlucky bastard that's teaching you?" the older boy asked.

"Uzumaki Naruto-san," answered Hige nonchalantly, and sniggered when his older brother fell off of his stool in shock.

"Are you alright nii-san?" Hige asked as his brother rubbed the back of his head, where a bruise was already beginning to develop.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Now tell me the truth; who is really your sensei?" asked Kiba. "The Hokage would have to have gone off her rocker to have allowed **him **to become a **squad leader**," he proclaimed loudly as two other people his age approached Ichiraku's Ramen Stand, where the Inuzuka brothers were waiting for their own ramen.

"Let who not become a squad leader?" asked Naruto as he a sat down on the stool next to Hige as Sakura took a seat next to the elder Inuzuka.

"Hey Naruto-sensei! Nii-san was just saying how you couldn't possibly be my sensei because the only way that they would let you is if Hokage-sama was off her rocker," explained Hige cheerfully, which caused Naruto to get very, very angry.

"What is that supposed to mean Dogboy?" Naruto boisterously asked.

"It means that the Hokage would have to be insane if she let you become a squad leader, loser," retorted Kiba just as boisterously.

"At least I don't smell like dog!" shouted Naruto.

"What's wrong with dogs?" demanded Kiba as he pounded his fist on the counter.

"They smell!" answered Naruto. And so the two began shouting and insulting each other as if they were genin again.

"Do they always fight like this? Oh, and by the way, I'm Inuzuka Hige," Hige said to the so far silent Sakura, both of them at least slightly annoyed at the loud voices attacking their ears.

"Yeah; even though they're eighteen they still fight like little kids all the time," sighed Sakura. "So is Naruto really your sensei?"

"Yeah; Hyūga Hanabi, Sataki Kazuki, Naruto-sensei, and I all compose of this year's Team Seven," explained Hige. "But may I ask you a question?"

"Sure, what is it?" asked Sakura as she tried to block out the yelling of her peers.

"Uhm…can I ask you somewhere a little more private?" requested Hige just as Ayame brought over three bowls of ramen; the pork ramen for the two Inuzukas and a bowl of Naruto's favorite, miso ramen. Instantly the two stopped their bickering and broke their chopsticks.

"Itadakimasu!" Naruto practically yelled as Kiba muttered it. But both of them immediately began devouring their ramen like animals. As the two ate, Sakura pulled Hige away from the stand and out of the main street; into an alleyway.

"What did you want to ask me Hige-kun?" Sakura asked.

"Uhm…first of all you're Haruno Sakura right?" asked Hige tentatively.

"Yes," affirmed Sakura. Somehow, she knew that she would not like the question that would come out of the young Inuzuka's mouth.

"Would you date my nii-san? He really likes you but he's too shy to ask you out," requested Hige as he kept his eyes fixated on a point behind Sakura and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

_'Is this some sick joke? Kiba, shy; no way, I couldn't imagine it,' _thought Sakura. **_'The hell are you waiting for? Say yes dammit! Say yes and live again dammit! Live!' _**exclaimed Inner Sakura, who the real Sakura tried her best to just ignore.

"So, will you?" he prodded after a few minutes of silence.

"I…uhm…I," stammered Sakura, not really knowing how to respond. She didn't want to make fun of the question in case what Hige was saying was the truth, but if she said yes and it was all a stupid joke...

"I'll tell you what; if your brother asks me out himself I'd go out with him," compromised Sakura; her logic being that if Kiba really did like her, she wouldn't embarrass him by saying now, but if it was a joke she wouldn't be humiliated.

"Fine," agreed Hige quickly. As he and Sakura began to leave the alley, he suddenly stopped and gazed quizzically at the back wall. "Hey, is that blood on the wall there?" he asked as he pointed to a slightly off color spot on the wall.

"No, you must be seeing things," dismissed Sakura, seeing nothing wrong with the wall, as she left the alleyway with the younger boy and returned to the hospitable ramen stand, where she ordered a chicken ramen as Hige started eating his ramen, however less voraciously as his brother.

As Kiba was taking a rather large bite of his ramen, Hige decided to start a conversation with him.

"Nii-san, guess what?" Hige tantalizingly asked. Kiba turned his gaze towards his younger brother, brimming with bored apathy. "Sakura-san said that she wants to go on a date with you!" he cheerfully proclaimed; causing both Naruto and Sakura's eyes to bug out in disbelief and Kiba to choke on his ramen.

**_'He did NOT just do that,' _**thought Inner Sakura angrily. **_'Just wait until I get my hands on you kid,'_** threateningly shouted Inner Sakura before cackling madly. During Inner Sakura's monologue, Sakura had sprung out of her seat and began performing the Heimlich maneuver on Kiba and managed to expel the food from his body.

"Are you alright?" asked Sakura as she stepped back from Kiba, who was coughing and gasping for breath.

"Yeah, I'm fine," answered Kiba. "But is it true?" he asked as he turned around to meet Sakura's nervous gaze, a hopeful look in his eyes as the lanterns that hung from the ceiling of the stand seemed to spotlight the two.

"Uhm…well…you see…I…uhm…" stammered Sakura, having no clue whatsoever what to say in this situation as her eyes frantically searched for something, anything, to get her out of this situation.

"I can't believe that you chose the dogboy over me!" pouted Naruto like a little kid. "I mean, I've had a crush on you for how long? Seven, eight years and now you just decide out of the blue to date dogboy out of all people! I mean, if you disliked me that much then you could've at least have told me!" shouted Naruto as he grew angrier and angrier.

"You know what; I'm through with you! I've been nothing but kind to you and you've treated me like shit for the past eight years; and I'm done," announced Naruto as he got up from his stool and violently stormed off from the ramen stand, leaving its occupants and proprietors stunned by the blonde's uncharacteristic anger.

"Hey bastard!" shouted Kiba as he practically leaped from his chair in his anger. "Who the hell do you think you are; talking to her like that?" demanded Kiba as he ran up to Naruto, pulled his shoulder to the side so that he was facing Kiba, and then Kiba's fist connected with his jaw, causing Naruto to stumble back. "Don't talk to her like that, ever," growled Kiba as he clenched and unclenched his fists. "You think it's bad that Sakura chose me over you? I had to endure Hinata not only choosing you, the dead last, but **her own cousin** over me," he snarled. "Now get the hell out of my face."

Naruto turned around and turned his gaze on Sakura, but there wasn't anger or resentment in his eyes. Instead there was something else; something that Sakura couldn't put her finger on.

"Sakura, I'm sorry that you had to see that," apologized Kiba as he trudged back to his seat and began to eat his ramen with much less vigor than before.

"He's right you know, Kiba," admitted Sakura. "I really haven't given him what he deserved after all that he's done for me." _'Your undying devotion to the Uchiha prodigy will be the death of the one you covet the most.'_ The demon fox's words rang throughout her head at this particular time. _'Are you happy now Sasuke? Are you happy that I'm so miserable? Are you laughing at me in Hell right now?' _bitterly thought Sakura. She then felt a pair of arms awkwardly wrap themselves around her from the behind, and found herself facing a sight she thought she would never see; Kiba blushing. She soon felt the blood rushing up to her cheeks as he kept the hold a little bit longer and she rested her head against his chest.

"Thank you…Kiba," whispered Sakura.

Hige just sat there slowly eating his ramen, amazed at what his actions brought upon the people around him. At that moment, he truly began to question the identity of his sensei.

_'Is he a happy-go-lucky idiot or is he filled with anger and fit to burst at any second?' _he asked himself. _'Damn…I really should apologize to him though…I had no clue how close he was to that Sakura girl,' _he thought.

"I'm gonna go home, alright nii-san?" said Hige as he stood up from his stool, leaving a bowl of half eaten ramen on the countertop. Kiba then seemed to realize that his younger brother was there and quickly let go of his hold on Sakura and sat down next to her.

"Yeah sure," he answered quickly.

_'I hope I didn't ruin their friendship, though…but they were only fighting over a girl, right? How much could that possibly affect their friendship?' _thought Hige as he left the ramen stand and breathed in a large breath of the crisp air that was around only at twilight as he began walking back to the Inuzuka compound, where his sister and mother would be awaiting his return.

---

After aimlessly wandering about the streets of Konoha for a few minutes, Naruto leaned against the wall of a building and slumped down onto the ground perpendicular to it as he rubbed his tender jaw, wincing as he felt a slight dislocation.

_'Damn, the amount of crap that I have to put up with just by trying to help make the situation a **tad **less awkward **really** wasn't worth this,' _thought Naruto as he hugged his knees to his chest like when he was younger.

But instead of doing it out of sadness or to prevent himself from being beaten all over his body, he simply savored how relaxing the moment was and how for once, he could go in slow motion instead of how he had accustomed life to be; quick and unforgiving. Each moment could be his last and he needed to achieve his dream. He **needed **it. But now he could forget about his dream and his fast paced life; he could actually enjoy the silence around him and envelop himself in it instead of always having to make noise and bring attention to himself.

"What are you doing?" demanded a voice as its owner's shadow consumed Naruto's body.

"I'm sitting here, do you have a problem with that?" growled Naruto, irate at having his peaceful silence, which he never got these days, interrupted.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do. **You** are supposed to come with **me** to eat tonight, yet you're just sitting here as if you have nothing better to do," complained the person as she put her hands on her hips and grinned. "So, are you coming or not?"

Naruto was shocked to say the least. He immediately stood up and was about to say something when Tenten put a finger to his lips.

"I don't care what's sealed in you, Uzumaki Naruto. I liked you before I knew, and I still like you now that I know," interjected Tenten.

"That's nice to know, but I wasn't going to ask anything even remotely like that," confessed Naruto, somehow with a straight face.

"I was going to ask you if we could go out for ramen instead."

---

Ten chapters are done…I can't believe it. Anyways, now that you've been somewhat acquainted with the new Team 7, what do you think? Who do you want to know more about? Who would you like to see more of in the future?

And remember…review!


	11. The Enemies Known as Friends

Thank you so much for the reviews and hits guys!

109 reviews and over 20 000 hits!!!

As for the KibaxSaku…I admit that I could have executed the interaction much better, and I apologize for rushing the story so. Thank you for all of your constructively written concerns for this.

Serpent Slayer: I forgot if I answered your question or not, but yes, I did get the name Hige from Wolf's Rain.

Thank you guys for all of your constructive criticism and opinions! I take them all seriously and deeply appreciate them. So thanks a lot you guys. And thank you my wonderful BETAs.

Warning: There's some heavy language later in the chapter.

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto!!

**Chapter 11: The Enemies Known as Friends**

"But why not?" he groaned as the two of them walked along the streets of the village.

"We've already went over this; I told you yesterday that ramen was out of the question," answered Tenten.

"But you also said that we'd be going to your house," Naruto retorted.

The streets were seemingly empty now, with only a few children playing with each other and people walking home from work. Most of the merchants had already begun to pack up their wares and were heading home.

"Yeah, but do you really think we'd be able to live it down with my younger brother and your…Sasuke there?" Tenten asked. Naruto quickly shook his head, thinking of the mischievousness of younger kids, mainly his own traits.

"Then that's why we're going out," Tenten said, a tone of finality in her voice. "Is there any place that you'd like to go?" She always wondered what other kinds of food that Naruto liked.

_'Maybe he likes barbeque? Seafood maybe?' _she thought, completely missing Naruto's answer.

"Tenten?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, what?" she answered, completely snapped out of her thoughts. "Sorry, I zoned out."

"Yeah, I know. I don't…really…know any good places to go," he admitted as he became fixated with the dusty ground.

Tenten could've slapped herself then. She should've guessed that there was a reason why he always went to Ichiraku's stand. She fretfully thought, wondering what she could do to make it up to him. Apologize for touching on an apparently sensitive issue.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed her fretting and felt bad for making her being distraught.

"It's alright, Tenten. I'm not that hungry anyway; I had some ramen at Ichiraku's before," Naruto said, only to feel a fist connect, hard, with his head.

"Oww, that hurt!" he whined as he pouted like a child and tenderly rubbed the bruise that was appearing on his hard head. "What was that for?"

"I told you that ramen was out of the question," Tenten explained through a grin. "Hey, Naruto?"

"Yeah what is it?" he grumbled.

"I'm…" began Tenten.

"Hold that thought," Naruto said. "I need to go."

"What's so important that you just need to interrupt my important revelation and then just leave me here?" she demanded as she took a seat on a bench nearby.

"I've got to go take a piss," Naruto hurriedly revealed as he started to run back to his apartment. Tenten held her head in her palms as he ran off. Now that they might actually start a relationship, Tenten began to have some doubts; not about her faithfulness, but about how her family will take it, what their life would be like in the future, what their **children** would be like.

_'Would it really work?' _she thought to herself. _'Of course…true love will always conquer even the fiercest of enemies in the end! Oh God, I'm starting to talk like Sakura and Ino when they were academy students,' _thought Tenten as she stretched out on the bench. She then looked up at the sky. _'That doesn't look too good…there are thunderheads out tonight. I hope we get into a restaurant before the rain comes.'_

---

It only took several minutes for Naruto to reach his house and do his business. Thankfully, Sakura had assisted him in somewhat cleaning the house; now it was actually possible to live in it. He had no clue how he was going to explain to Sasuke what he had seen earlier though. After all, the famous "Sharingan no Kakashi," was his sensei; and if Naruto learned anything then it was how to squirm your way out of uncomfortable situations. Well, that and how to work efficiently as a team.

Naruto frowned as he walked out of his apartment complex; it had begun to rain and he had left Tenten on that bench on the other side of town.

_'Shit, I hope she's not that wet yet; I really was looking forward to going to dinner with her tonight,' _thought Naruto as he began running through the damp streets of the Leaf Village. Luckily for him, and for Tenten, it was only drizzling so the ground wasn't soggy or muddy yet.

As he was running blindly through the streets, the last thing he'd expected to come into contact with was another villager; especially the fist of one. But he did. He was sent spiraling into the walls of a store, a weapon store by a fist coming into connection with the side of his head. And standing over the dazed, injured, and angry Naruto was none other then Hyūga Neji. A very wet and a very angry Hyūga Neji.

Naruto grabbed onto the slippery wall for support with one hand and he clutched his bleeding head with the other hand as he slowly got up onto his feet, bearing his teeth as if they were fangs.

"What the hell was that for?" Naruto demanded as his vision swam, a feeling of drunkenness overcoming his senses.

"You destroyed it," Neji said in a frighteningly monotone tone. This was not his usual monotonous voice though, this tone was completely devoid of any emotions, of any inhibitions whatsoever; the voice of a killer.

"What are you talking about Neji? I didn't destroy anything!" pleaded Naruto.

"My last chance for happiness; you destroyed it," Neji said once again as he stood stock still in the rain, the rain dripping from his long, dark hair and matted it to his white kimono, which was starting to develop a translucent quality to it.

"I still have no clue what the hell you're talking about," answered Naruto with a goofy grin on his face, knees wobbling and the disorientation from Neji's blow still affecting his body.

"You branded my child a demon," Neji stated, his chest visibly moving with each of his breaths.

Naruto frowned as the full impact of the current situation became fully known to him. He _had _branded Neji's child, and apparently Neji wasn't very fond of the idea.

"Neji, it doesn't mean that his entire life is ruined; just give him a cloth bandana or something to cover it up and he'll grow up like a normal Hyūga brat would," Naruto stated as if it was the simplest solution in the world. He knew it wasn't though; he knew that by some means people would discover his secret. And then he'd be given the stigma of demon.

"Do you have any idea what it feels like, Naruto? To know that your own son, your own goddamn son, will never grow up normal? Well, do you?" Neji demanded. He had finally snapped, and anger was the first of all of his emotions to show as he suddenly burst into action and charged Naruto, kunai in hand.

Naruto clumsily got out a kunai and was able to only just block Neji's assault. But Naruto was disoriented and had an incredibly weak guard, which Neji penetrated easily and slashed Naruto across the wrist.

"No, Neji, I have no fucking idea how it must feel to know that your son will have to go through that. But you know what, I actually know what it's like to go through that," Naruto retorted as he felt a large burst of the Kyūbi's chakra mixed with adrenaline enter his bloodstream. _'It's all your good for, you stupid ball of fur.' _Naruto quickly brought up his kunai to guard Neji's next attack and pushed Neji back with a particularly large burst of chakra, sending Neji careening back several feet. Naruto instantly jumped off the wall and as he came to the ground, tried to bring his leg down onto Neji's shoulder.

"At least you knew you had friends growing up Naruto. I was completely alone," Neji snapped as he grabbed Naruto's leg, twisted it, and then brought Naruto the ground in one motion.

"What in the name of Kami are you talking about? I was alone for the first twelve years of my life! No one would come anywhere near me unless they wanted to torture me! Yet you, you were the Hyūga prodigy; every person in Konoha could only wish that their kid was friends in you 'cause you were so fucking perfect!" Naruto yelled with rage as he spat the muck from his mouth, rolled onto his back, and preformed a kip up and attempted to hit Neji in the chest, but was knocked to the side. Naruto used the extra momentum to spin in the air and once again bring his leg down onto Neji's shoulder. Neji blocked the move and was about to throw Naruto back to the ground but was forced to block Naruto's follow up roundhouse to his head.

He then found that he had nothing left to guard with as Naruto brought back his fist and brought it down with amazing force onto Neji's face, causing him to released both of his blocks. Both shinobi then regrouped and stared each other down from opposite sides of the street.

"My life was far from perfect Naruto. You have not the faintest inkling how difficult growing up as an orphan in the Hyūga house was. I had to provide everything for myself, I didn't have teachers to teach me the Jyūken; I had to learn it from countless scrolls that were riddled with errors. You thought that it was bad that you had no family? I lived with a family that detested my very existence!" yelled Neji. Suddenly the two exploded into action, only blurs to the untrained eye of a civilian of Konoha as metal clanged against metal and flesh hitting flesh. Then, out of the blue, they stopped fighting and stood on the opposite side of the street as before, both of them bruised, bloodied, and battered.

"I was so obsessed with bringing down the Main House of the Hyūga Clan that I missed out on everything that a child is supposed to enjoy. I never cared about anyone else, even though people would've died to befriend me. I never had a moment of relaxation or peace; and Kami knows that I've never had fun. All I did was work. People may have thought that I was an all-perfect prodigy, but I'm not; if I was I would've seen that friendship was more important than revenge!" Neji roared as he charged Naruto and executed a Jyūken combination on him, hitting several important tenketsu and his lungs. He then found that Naruto was no longer Naruto; he was a log. Neji then found someone holding something metallic, sharp, to his neck and felt heavy breathing travel down his neck.

"And what the hell does this have to do with why you're attacking me?" Naruto exasperatedly asked as he shakily held the kunai to his friend's throat.

"I've never truly felt happiness in my life Naruto; not when I was young and not now. But, once I'd found out that I had a child, I began to feel it. I began to feel that maybe I'd be truly happy; maybe I'd finally have my happy ending. But then you came along and ruined it! You ruined my last chance that I'd ever have of ever truly feeling happy," Neji said through heavy breaths, his hair falling in front of his eyes.

"How could you possibly say that? You still have your entire life ahead of you! And you still have Hinata-chan! How could you possibly say that you're not happy even though you have so much?" demanded Naruto. He couldn't understand his friend's unhappiness. Naruto grew up with nothing, while he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. He would have killed for the attention that Neji got when he grew up, and could not understand how Neji could dismiss all of that as nothing.

"How can I possibly be truly happy when I love another as well?" Neji demanded. He couldn't even register Naruto's movement as he punched Neji as hard as he could across the face and into the muddy ground.

"You have a child now Neji! How can you possibly say that you don't love Hinata! That is…that is…just wrong!" Naruto yelled.

"I love Hinata, I never said that I didn't. But there is another who I still hold in my heart with that same affection," Neji explained as he got up from the mucky ground, his clothes completely soiled and rain still falling from the sky, but harder now. Now it was coming down hard and fast, like a storm.

"Neji you bastard, how could you do that to her? She's never done anything to you! The only thing she's ever wanted to do is to help you; and you repay her with what? False love; a fake feeling of acceptance? You say you love somebody else but you still have a damn baby with Hinata! What kind of monster are you?" Naruto yelled as he grabbed the collar of Neji's collar tightly, ripping the garment.

"I cannot manipulate my emotions at the flip of a coin; that is human nature. I cannot help it if I still hold love for the woman I was torn away from prematurely. But do not mistake it, Naruto. I love Hinata with my very heart and soul, and I love Lee despite his indisposition," Neji said.

"Then why the hell are we fighting?" Naruto demanded as the effects of the Kyūbi's chakra began to fade and Naruto began to feel weaker than ever.

"You have injured one of my precious people Uzumaki Naruto, and I could not allow you to get away with that unharmed," informed Neji callously.

"You bastard," growled Naruto. "All because of your little plot to get vengeance for something that I had **no part in doing whatsoever**, I lost the opportunity to go out to dinner with Tenten and I left her alone in the rain!" he vented as he cracked his knuckles.

"Then you better go get her Uzumaki," Neji admonished as he began to walk away from the blond ninja.

"Well what the hell do you think I'm going to do, just let her sit outside in the rain?" Naruto asked. "And don't think I'm finished with you yet, Hyūga boy!" yelled Naruto as he ran off to where he left Tenten waiting for him.

_'Shit, I hope she's not that mad with me,' _thought Naruto as he pumped his legs with even more of the fox demon's chakra to get there faster. Sweat and rain intermixed as he worked his still slightly disoriented body to the max to reach the girl.

In a few minutes that seemed to be an eternity, he finally reached the bench where his friend had sat down to wait for him.

It was empty.

He couldn't bear it anymore, he just collapsed onto the bench, propped his arms onto his legs and then held his face within his tanned, calloused hands.

"Damn it," he whispered to himself. He hadn't really expected her to be waiting there for him; who would wait fifteen minutes out in the pouring rain. "I can't say that I blame her though. Hell, I wouldn't have waited even five minutes," sighed Naruto. He couldn't bring himself to face her now; he had messed up twice in a row, and now he had left her outside in the rain to wait for him.

"I want to make it up to her," Naruto said to himself. "I want to show that I can be kind without acting like an idiot. I want to show her that her kindness isn't wasted." Is was at that time that he happened to look up from his hands and read the name of the store across the street, which was still open. A large grin began to show on his face as he felt for his frog wallet, which was quite large and safely tucked within a trick pocket in his pants. He quickly jumped off of the bench and practically leaped into the store, more than willing to part with the money necessary to show his deep regrets for the events that transpired that night.


	12. Those Dreams Condemned as Childish

Thanks for all the reviews guys!!

Sorry for the late update, but inspiration for one of my other stories and writer's block for this one kind of halted the progress.

However, what gave me the inspiration for this chapter was a real life situation that happened to me that was very similar to the KibaxSakuxNaru one. Freaky no?

Review responses:

Causeiambeta:  Thank you for the criticism. And the main reason I chose "having to go" as Naruto's reason was because I couldn't think of any reason why he could leave besides it and also it just seemed very, I don't know, in character for Naruto?

M3m0rii: I feel honored to have written one of the few Naruto stories you can comment on. And don't worry; I plan on finishing this out, no matter how long it may take.

Yonboy86: I'm glad that you were so enthusiastic about the past chapter! I also felt that I was procrastinating with the plot a little, and so lately I have been speeding up the plot a little, but, it's kind of turned into a snowball effect. Hopefully I'll be able to find a balance that's good for people who like the faced past stories and the ones who like the slow paced ones.

HieiNeko: Thank you for concerns, I really do appreciate them. Usually, however, the amount of angst depends on the mood I'm in at the time. Lucky for the both of us that I've entered a rare period of just pure bliss; so hopefully you can expect some lighter chapters in the future (beyond this one, this one's dark).

Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own Naruto.

Thank you for BETAing this chapter!

**Chapter 12: Those Dreams Condemned As Childish**

She couldn't concentrate at all once he had left. She knew that she was at the ramen stand with Kiba, but at the same time, she wasn't. She was in the past, living with Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi, when all she had to worry about was who's garden she'd be weeding or who's cat she'd be trying to retrieve from the forest and whether or not Sasuke would love her or not. And then they could live happily ever after with ten kids, all girls, away from Ino and Naruto.

She couldn't bear all of the problems she had to deal with now; dealing with the death of the boy she had vowed would be made her spouse, actual relationships, and sacrificing friendships for that love. She just wanted life to be as easy as it was when she was twelve, especially with love. Back then you had an idea of who likes who, but this. It had been so sudden, so rushed, that she had no time to think. She couldn't have just told him that his brother flat out lied; she had already ruined one person through flat out rejection and she would never do it again. But before she could decide, Naruto basically erupted and in the course of five seconds Kiba had become her comfort. Why did teenage love have to be so complex?

"Sakura? Sakura are you okay?" Kiba asked with concern, but that triumphant smile of his was plastered on his face, just as it had been for the past fifteen minutes.

"Hmm? Sorry, did you say something Kiba?" Sakura asked confusedly as she absentmindedly stirred her ramen around with her chopsticks.

"Are you alright? You don't look that great," pointed out Kiba.

"Yeah, I guess I'm not feeling that great," admitted Sakura as she firmly focused her eyes on Kiba, who was starting to slightly frown.

"You should go home then, Sakura. It wouldn't do for any of us if went and got sick on my account," Kiba commanded. He didn't fool her though, she could see the silent pleading to "stay, please stay with me forever" in his eyes. She knew because she herself wore the same smile for so many years.

"Sorry Kiba, I really want to stay, but I don't think I'm up to it," said Sakura with a sad smile. He smiled back, but it was forced.

"Alright, see you soon?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah, see you soon," replied Sakura as she paid for her ramen. She then began the walk home in the pouring rain. With every step, it seemed, she stepped in puddles that broke under weight and splattered her clothes as cold droplets of water bombarded her from above.

And if anything, the rain made her think of Naruto more; whether he was at home or somewhere in the village moping out here in the rain.

"Naruto," muttered Sakura as her mind replayed a painful memory; when the Uchiha recon team was returned.

_They all waited together in the small waiting room of the Konohagakure hospital for any news on their friends. The atmosphere in the room was tense and quiet, the only sounds being the sounds of footsteps echoing on the floor as Tenten paced back and forth, her brow furrowed in thought. _

_It was then that she broke down crying. She just couldn't stand everything around her just stand still, nor could she stand the fact that one of her teammates, her friends, was in the hospital possibly dying. And still there was no word on Sasuke._

_She soon felt, rather than saw, someone looming over her crying self._

_"Don't worry, it's going to be alright," soothed the person standing above her as her tears were wiped away by soft hands, kind hands. They just made her cry harder, remembering the times when she would wish for Sasuke to do the very same to her._

_"Sa-Sasuke-kun…" Sakura whimpered through her tears. She had not meant to say it out loud, but it had just slipped out. At hearing this, the kind hands of the person turned dangerous as one was brought hard across the pink-haired girl's face, resonating with a loud slap. _

_"Grow up Sakura; Sasuke's gone and he's not coming back but Naruto, he's here in this building. He could be dying in there on the operating table, alone, and all you can think about is fucking Uchiha, who abandoned us all for his own selfish intents! Well I hope you end up with him, because you deserve each other," shouted the person as Sakura held her hand up to her tender cheek, now completely mute. She didn't even look up to see who it was that had slapped her as the person stormed out of the hospital in a rage. She had blocked herself off from reality, listening only to the voices in her mind._

_It was then that Sakura began to think that Naruto deserved better than her. _

She shook her head to try and stop the memory from replaying in her head, for she still felt in her heart the events that transpired after it: finding out Sasuke had died, going to his funeral without Naruto, apologizing to him, and now today, leaving him again for another man.

_'I truly don't deserve a friend like him,' _thought Sakura ruefully as she consciously stopped her feet from moving. For the past few minutes she had allowed them to take her to somewhere, anywhere, and they had chosen this old, rotting building.

The apartment complex where one Uzumaki Naruto resided.

Sakura mustered all of her willpower, and pushed open the double doors of the apartment building to face the product of all of her childhood wrongs.

---

She felt drained; both physically and emotionally as she lay on the hospital bed with her, thankfully sleeping, son in the room she was designated. First off, her stamina was severely decreased so even visiting Naruto took a lot out of her. Then of course was the incident with the Kyūbi and Lee, which drained her even more. But the worst experience of all had been to relay the experience to Neji, who, for the first time that Hinata remembered, simply exploded. He had started to yell and punching things, very uncharacteristic for the usually stoic Hyūga and then out of the blue stormed out, leaving Hinata with a crying infant. It truly was not a sight she ever wished to see again.

It was as she was about to succumb to her exhaustion that someone began knocking on the door.

"Who's there?" demanded Hanabi, who was sitting in a chair next to her sister.

"It's me, Tenten," answered the person beyond the door. Normally, Hanabi wouldn't have allowed anyone to visit her sister when she was this tired, but even she, a genin, noticed the disguised weariness and desperation in her voice, so she looked to Hinata to see what she wanted. She nodded her head slowly in response. Hanabi then got up and opened the door for Tenten.

"Good evening Tenten-san," greeted Hanabi formally.

"Good evening," responded Tenten, forcing a smile on her face.

"Hanabi, can you go find a towel for Tenten?" Hinata requested. Hanabi turned around to face her sister and raised an eyebrow at her request; she knew that the hospital just rent out towels. But Hinata only beckoned her to leave. Hanabi sighed and began her fruitless journey to find a towel for the girl.

"Hello Tenten-chan," said Hinata softly and beckoned her friend to sit in Hanabi's recently vacated seat. "What may I owe the pleasure of your visit to?"

Tenten walked to the chair and then sat down as if she wasn't really there; as if her soul was off in some other place.

"Tenten-chan, are you alright?" Hinata asked. It was then that the tears began to fall. She didn't sob, she would never show anyone that kind of vulnerability, but the silent tears fell as Tenten hung her head.

"I'm only human," she whispered as she gripped the arms of the chair.

"What's wrong?" asked Hinata, now concerned with her friend. She had only seen her cry twice before: at the Sandaime's funeral and at Lee's funeral.

"I know I shouldn't be this bothered by it, because I know that he's not like that…but still…I'm only human," muttered Tenten, still alluding from what's been troubling her.

"Who's he; what happened?" inquired Hinata, desperately wishing that she could wrap her arms around her friend to try to comfort her.

"We were going to go out; Naruto and me. We were gonna go to a restaurant, a nice fancy one, like in the movies, and maybe, maybe we'd…I don't know, it sounds so stupid now. Maybe we could've hooked up? Maybe become lovers and start a family? I don't know, but I know that I wanted him; for whom he is. And maybe, just maybe, I could've helped him get over his obsession with his curse. It sounds childish, but that's what I really wished for deep in my heart.

But it didn't happen, no, instead he left me outside in the rain for the past twenty minutes! I know that he's not manipulative like that or anything, but…but…I'm only human Hinata-chan. I still feel emotions like sadness and rejection even though I act like I could give a shit. It just…it made feel…unwanted…and, it really sucks to feel like that.

I made a promise to myself once my dad died. I had promised myself that I would be strong, that I wouldn't let my family down; that I would never cry. But I guess that I couldn't even do that. Am I that useless Hinata-chan; tell me the truth. Do I even have a purpose in life: or was I just born for Kami to play with, trying to see how horrible he can make my life?" confessed Tenten as she tried to wipe away her tears with the sleeve of her shirt; a futile effort considering that her sleeve was soaking wet.

"I'm sorry Hinata-chan. I didn't mean to concern you but I just needed…I just needed to vent."

"Don't be Tenten-chan. All of us need to let our feelings out from time to time, and I think you need to especially. And no matter what Naruto is like usually, there's no excuse for what he did," comforted Hinata, her voice becoming angrier as she said the last part. She had known Naruto almost for her entire life, and she had never known him to do something so horrible.

"No, there is no excuse," concurred a previously unacknowledged voice. He had entered the room unnoticed as the women were enveloped in Tenten's s confessions.

"Sorry Nee-san, there weren't any towels available," announced Hanabi as she walked past the man in the doorway. "And I told him that you two were having a private conversation but he wouldn't hear of it. Right sensei?"

---

"Who?" the person at the door asked to the mysterious woman outside his door.

"Uzumaki Naruto, the guy who lives in this apartment," prodded Sakura.

"Sorry lady, but I don't know what you're talking about. I've lived in this apartment for the past five years and there's never been any Uzumaki Narutos here," the man argued. Sakura had to restrain herself from knocking the guy out cold; first off he looked like a creep; he had small beady eyes that seemed to beg for more of everything, he had a receding hairline which he vainly tried to hide by combing it across his head, and what was left was greasy and dirty, and he wore this snide smirk as if he knew everything in the world. And secondly she **knew** this was Naruto's apartment, she had just been here an hour or two ago.

"Listen, I was **here, **in **this** apartment with **Uzumaki Naruto** earlier today. I **know **that this is his apartment.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Uzumaki Naruto never lived here, and trust me, I'd know if he did. I would never live in an apartment that a **demon **lived in," he snidely said.

That was when Sakura snapped and the shit hit the fan.


	13. The First Part of an Untimely End

_"It was only when you cried_

_that I found the courage to be."_

**Chapter 13: The First Part of an Untimely End**

An awkward silence settled upon the four; the atmosphere suffocating as Tenten, Hinata, and Naruto exchanged glances.

"It's getting late," Hanabi stated in a relaxed, aloof tone as she walked towards the sole window in the room, which was located on the wall to the right of the hospital bed. But she then suddenly became tenser.

"You," she said, pointing to Tenten, "and you," she pointed this time at Nartuo. "Get out; aneue needs her sleep and she certainly won't get any if you two keep interrupting her," she commanded as she pointed towards the ajar door that Naruto stood in front of.

"Hana..." Hinata began to protest but was cut off before she could say anything more.

"It's perfectly fine, Hinata-chan. Anyways, you'll never be able to come back on active duty if you don't rest up," Tenten interjected as she forced a smile on to her face for her friend. Hinata clasped her friend's hand and mouthed the words 'good luck' to her.

Naruto had spared no time leaving the hospital room; ever since he had entered the room Hinata had been glaring at him. Naruto was used to glares, he grew up with only anger and hatred as his companions, but never before had Hinata been more than slightly annoyed with him. He truly was afraid of the full extent of the girl's wrath. But more than that, he was afraid of losing a friend. But he also noticed something else, and it was far more spirit breaking than that; he had seen Tenten, the girl that Naruto had never even seen frown before except for one or two occasions, cry. She was crying because of what **he** did to her.

Tenten slowly got up from her chair and slowly walked out of the room dripping wet as she began shivering almost uncontrollably. It was only as she left that the Hyūga siblings began to talk.

"Hana, you didn't have to be so strict with them," Hinata lightly scolded. Hanabi sighed in response.

"How could I not? They would only cause you to worry if they carried out their little squabble here. And anyway, they wouldn't have been able to truly discover themselves with us here, now would they?" Hanabi asked as she closed the window shades.

"No, they wouldn't," concurred Hinata in defeat. "I just hope that those finally get the happy ending they deserve." Hanabi shrugged indifferently to the notion. She could care less about others' personal lives as long as it didn't interfere with her own.

"You're crying," Naruto stated as Tenten and him stood face to face.

"No, Naruto, I'm fine," Tenten objected weakly as she tried to walk past the blond ninja.

"No, you're not. Please, let me…" Naruto pleaded as his eyes seemed to be begging for something. For what, Tenten didn't know. But she did know that all she wanted was to get home, and soon.

"Just let me go, Naruto, please," Tenten pleaded as she felt the shivering become more intense. "I just want to go home," she whined as she wiped her eyes with her wet sleeve, only resulting in her looking even more distraught.

"At least…at least let me tell you I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to take that long; it's just that I got distracted and…" Naruto attempted to explain. However, it seemed to hurt, more than help his cause as Tenten roughly pushed him aside.

"You have no idea," she said without turning back to look at him. "You have no idea how much I'm hurting now; how would you like it if all of a sudden your dreams that seemed so impossible just a day ago become a possible reality; something that you had believed for your entire **life** to be childish suddenly becomes so mature, so adult-like. Now imagine it being ripped away from you; would you like it Naruto?

Would you like to be suddenly told that you're going to become Hokage and then at the naming ceremony, be laughed at when another's name is announced? Would you like having to wait outside in the freezing rain for twenty minutes only to find out that the person you were waiting for "just got distracted?" Now get out of my way Naruto, I'm going home. Without you," Tenten confessed emotionally, tears falling freely from her cheeks as she ran out of the hospital.

She could feel it in her bones; she was close to collapsing right then and there. But she couldn't; no, definitely not near him. She had already exposed too much of her weakness, and she refused to let him find her, cold and sick. She needed to get away, get home. She was able to run for several minutes before her orientation began to diminish; every other step she'd stumble and the fear of falling gripped her very soul. She knew that if she fell, she wouldn't get up on her own.

It was the next step that got her; a kid had left his or her ball outside and she had not seen it in her feverish daze. She had tripped over it and fell onto her face, skidding in the wet earth as it splattered all over her clothing.

_'At least his apartment is in the opposite direction,' _Tenten thought gratefully as the rain pounded down on her still body. She then slowly closed her eyes and let the fever devour her, the dark clouds hanging ominously overhead.

_It was within your fears that I found my dreams._

_But they were never meant to be._

_Only made to wash away in the stream._

"Now I'm going to ask you again; where is Naruto?" growled Sakura as she put even more pressure on the man's arm, which she had twisted against his back as she held him against the wall.

"For the last goddamn I don't know where that demon spawn is! Now let go of me before report you for assault and breaking into my apartment!" threatened the man as he tried to struggle against Sakura's grip. His effort was futile, however. Sakura then threw the man by his shirt into a dresser across the room. The man hit the dresser with a grunt and collapsed to the ground, limp. It was then that the full reality struck her.

She had broken into a man's apartment and beat him unconscious merely because she believed that somehow, he had stolen Naruto's apartment and then completely changed it in less than an hour. It seemed completely irrational to her now, but now the question was annoying her to no end.

If this wasn't Naruto's apartment, then where was it?

All she knew was that it **really** wouldn't look good if someone happened to walk by and find her in the room with an unconscious man in it. So Sakura did the only thing she could do; she checked the man for any serious injury. And when she found none, she bolted out of the apartment complex and into the pouring rain.

"Shit it's still raining," moaned Sakura as she held her arm over her head and rain towards where her and her mother lived. After several minutes of running, she suddenly skidded to a stop. She was right near the Memorial Stone and she could swear that she could hear sobbing and hastily spoken apologies choked out in between sobs.

Sakura could not stand the sound of crying. She knew that it may make her sound hypocritical, but she just couldn't stand crying. Maybe because she herself cried so often that it began to turn into a bone of contention; every time she'd cry she'd simultaneously mentally scream at herself for acting like such a baby.

And so, with the intention of trying to comfort whoever was making such a cacophony of sounds, she walked through the forested pathway that lead to the memoriam and gazed sadly upon the sight in front of her.

"Naruto," whispered Sakura in empathetic pain. He was the one on the ground on his hands and knees sobbing and apologizing. She couldn't help but feel responsible somehow. Everything she did seem to hurt him, even though he never deserved it. She had always found ways, consciously in her childhood, and now in her adulthood subconsciously, ways to discourage and disparage him. Yet he had always been there for her when she needed it. Now, it was her turn to step up to the plate.

_In your mourning eyes,_

_I found the courage_

_To retrieve my dreams_

_From the raging currents._

"So they're not here?" he asked Hanabi. He had been sent by Tenten's mother to tell Tenten that she was needed at her house, but he couldn't find her; nor could he find Naruto. He couldn't help but worry about him, his "father." Naruto looked so used to what he saw in his apartment that it was frightening, disturbing really. He couldn't imagine how many times that must've happened to him if Naruto wasn't surprised at all.

"No, for the last time, Naruto-sensei isn't here and nor is Tenten-san. Now go home Sasuke; I really don't like being pestered by brats," Hanabi commanded flatly as she turned her back to him.

"Wait! I didn't come all this way in the pouring way just to be turned back by some stuck up brat!" objected Sasuke angrily. He had been searching for the past twenty minutes at least for the two ninja, only to be directed to the hospital by the waitress at a restaurant. She had told him that this was where one of Naruto's best friends was staying, and that she would probably know where he had headed off. She had also solemnly noted that he seemed to be in a bad mood. Sasuke had known at that moment that finding Naruto would be a chore; it was intuition, mainly, but it proved to be right.

"Listen, Sasuke, unlike my sister or my cousin, I couldn't care less what happens to Naruto-sensei or Tenten-san; as long as I get trained I'm perfectly fine with whatever happens to those around me. So just screw off; you're not wanted here. And if you don't leave by preference, I'll make you leave the painful way," threatened Hanabi as she walked back in to her sister's room and shut the door in Sasuke's face behind her.

To say that he was downtrodden by Hanabi's answer would be an understatement. He had been absolutely positive that this woman, Hinata, the waitress had told him her name was, could tell him where Tenten and Naruto were. But now, he had nothing to go on, nothing whatsoever.

"I should just head back to Tenten's house. After all, it's not like I can be punished for not being able to do something that I had done out of good will," Sasuke shrugged to himself as he shoved his hands into his pockets and walked out into the rain.

"It's so gloomy out," he sighed. He never did like the rain; it reminded of his first memory of **him**, the man who had abandoned him in the streets of the village to fend for himself.

_"What is this place?" the young boy no older than five asked an older man, a shinobi. A loud congregation of people talking, bargaining arguing, or just going to their destination surrounded them; he had never seen a place so loud or crowded._

_"This place is Konoha, Sasuke. This is your new home," the man said as he released the grip on the boy's hand and disappeared into the crowd. Instantly the boy began to panic as he desperately looked around for the man._

_"Jii-san? Jii-san where are you?" cried Sasuke. However no one answered him, nor did anyone in the village try to assist him._

_"Don't worry Sasuke-kun; I'll come back for you in a few years. But right now, we need you here. Serve us well," whispered a voice from the crowd. Sasuke instantly snapped his head around to locate the man, but failed. _

"Don't worry, jii-san, I'll make sure to make you proud," Sasuke vowed as he himself disappeared into the crowd.

It had been raining that day, lightly at first, but later into the day it had begun to pour. Sasuke grimaced as he remembered what he had to resort to in those days; he had to sleep wherever he could find a vacant spot and it was only by a sheer stroke of luck that he had found an abandoned mansion that was stocked with food. Of course, it only lasted for a while until people began to see him enter and exit the house. Then they placed guards around it and kept it under lock and key.

Sasuke watched with a mild curiosity as his feet created ripples in the puddles as he stepped in them. He had always wondered the exact reason why water reacted like that. When he was younger he had believed that water like to be alone, and that the rippling meant that they wanted people to go away and leave them be, but he had since threw away that theory.

It was as he was watching the rippling puddles that he had noticed the hand.

It was just lying there in the street: pale, soaked, and dirty. Sasuke then saw the arm that was attached to the hand, and soon he could fully make out the body.

It was Tenten.

She was just lying there like a rag doll, limp and unmoving. Sasuke froze up at the sight; he remembered how, just a few hours ago, she was teaching him how to throw a kunai and how to properly care for them. How, only that morning, she had smiled at him and welcomed him without any problem. After several moments he slowly slung her shoulder over his own and half-carried half-dragged her back to Tenten's house, which was also the weapon shop that he had been dropped off at that morning. Luckily, she had not collapsed very far from her house, so it did not take an enormous amount of effort.

Sasuke pounded frantically on the front door of the house, and after what seemed like an eternity the door was finally answered by the twelve year old who Sasuke had grown to hate over the last twenty four hours.

"So, where is she?" the boy demanded as he opened the door. His eyes bugged out and he tried speaking but no words came out. Sasuke pushed his way past the older boy as he brought in the unconscious girl.

"Onee…onee-chan," he whimpered as he saw the paleness and fragility of his older sister. He then violently turned on Sasuke. "You; you did this to her! Was this your sick idea of revenge for what I said about your precious father? What the fuck is wrong with you? How could you…how could you…do this…to my…my…onee-chan," he yelled. But as he began to talk more and more, the more that the tears fell. And soon enough he had turned into a sobbing wreck, clinging to his sister's body as his mother rushed into the room with a dry set of clothes, towels, and a medical kit.

Sasuke could not believe what he was seeing; the genin that, earlier today, was talking as if he was the only person worthy to live even as he was tied to a tree was now crying like an infant, clutching to his older sister like one would a favored play thing that was about to be destroyed. He attempted to comfort Kazuki but was answered with a swift blow across his head.

"Don't you dare try and comfort me you little bastard; I know you did something to her. So just leave here and don't come back; you won't be missed. Go back to that demon you dare call a father or go crawl into a cave and die for all I care. But I promise that I'll kill you if dare set a foot back inside my house," spat Kazuki as he bore into Sasuke with eyes of steel.

Sasuke didn't have to be told twice to leave there, but before he did, he told Kazuki one thing.

"I didn't do anything to her; why would I have brought her back here if I did?"

He then angrily left the Sataki household and ran as fast as he could. He didn't know where he was running, but he knew that anywhere was a better place to be than here, in this village.

Even though he may have had a "father" in Konoha, he never had, nor did he ever plan to, have a home in Konoha.

He would leave this god-awful place for good, no matter the price.

_But how can a dream _

_Become reality_

_When it is neverending?_


	14. Minds Clouded by Their Own Convicitons

No, I'm not dead. I just got into a slump…again. Also this chapter is not betaed. Sorry for the wait. Enjoy and please review.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Chapter 14: Minds are Clouded by Their Own Convictions **

He stood, memorized, in front of the large house; the one he lived off of for a year or so while he lived in the village of Konoha. For some reason, Sasuke couldn't bring himself to walk away from it; for an unknown reason it held his consciousness within its grounds, and would refuse Sasuke's internal pleas to leave.

"It sucks what happened, don't you think?" asked a voice from behind him. Sasuke jumped at the sudden sound and turned around to face with a woman wearing a white shirt that hugged her body, long, tight beige paints that were slit from the thigh up, revealing dense fishnet stockings, and a long, tan overcoat that seemed to envelop the entirety of her body and cloud it with the mystery of what lay beneath the woman's guarded appearance.

"What do you mean? What happened?" questioned Sasuke. But even as he began to converse with this woman, there was a voice inside of his head screaming at him to just run; run and leave this horrible place in the dust.

"For the love of Kami-sama; kid, what the fuck have they been teaching you in school?" she disgustedly asked. Sasuke hung his head sheepishly.

"Uhm…I…I haven't started school yet," he explained. The woman only ground the heel of her palm into her forehead in frustration.

"Alright, well, this is, well, was, the compound of the Uchiha clan," the woman began to explain. "You do know about them, right?" Sasuke only gave her a blank look in return, which only frustrated her more. "Well they were one of the most prominent, and screwed up, clans. And eleven years ago, the entire clan was wiped out except for two people."

"Why?" Sasuke interrupted.

"I was getting to that," she irritably explained. "The first person survived because, he himself was the one to kill his clan and the other to survive was his younger brother, who watched his parents murdered before his very eyes. And so he was pretty messed up for the rest of his life," she remarked reminiscently, a faint smile on her face. "I've got to admit, he was talented, for a spoiled brat, that is."

"So, he's dead now?" Sasuke asked. The woman sighed in exasperation.

"Of course he's dead!" the woman snapped.

"Do feel sorry for him; the younger brother?" Sasuke asked, preparing himself for some kind of stark retort.

"No, I could never feel sorry for scum like him. Uchiha Sasuke could rot in hell for all I care," she spat. "It's that blond idiot who killed him who I feel sorry for; his own best friend, the Uchiha, left him out to die and now, years later, that same person was killed by his own hands. He must be an emotional wreck," she explained solemnly as she looked upon the mansion which appeared haunted in the distorted moonlight.

"Uchiha…Sasuke?" Sasuke asked himself. _'Is that the same man Naruto-tou-san was talking about? His teammate…the person I look like?'_

"I don't know why I'm telling you all this though; you were bound to learn some watered-down, kid friendly version in school," she admitted.

"Why do you talk of Naruto-to…Naruto-san like that though?" Sasuke questioned. "He doesn't seem like an idiot. He's really nice…and…and…kind."

"So you know him," Anko stated rather than asked. "But you never knew him when he was your age," she claimed reminiscently. "When he was a genin he was a loud mouthed, impotent, cocky, stubborn, little pain in the ass. But he had his good points," she said as she tilted her head back up towards the sky, not seeming to mind the raindrops that seemed to assail her.

"Uhmm…konoichi-san?" asked Sasuke, trying to get the woman's attention, who seemed to have gone into a type of trance.

"What is it?" snapped the woman flatly without looking back at the boy. Sasuke flinched at the harshness in her voice.

"I was just wondering; how do you know Naruto-san? It's just…you spoke as if…well…as if you knew him well," Sasuke mumbled, averting eye contact with the woman.

"It's none of your business gaki," retorted Anko. "Why do you care anyway? How old are you, six, seven? Even if you did know him, anything you knew would be a lie."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, a primordial fear starting to grow in the pit of his stomach.

"What I mean is that Uzumaki Naruto has a notorious reputation in this village," Anko stated.

"What kind of reputation?" Sasuke inquired, curious.

"He has a reputation of being the number one most unpredictable and one of the most emotionally complex ninja of the village," Anko answered. "I doubt even one person in this village knows what goes on in that thick head of his."

"So you don't know him that well either?" Sasuke asked.

"Nope; not a thing. And personally, I'd like to keep it that way," she answered truthfully.

---

Kazuki couldn't sit still; he kept moving to fix his clothes or to scratch an itch or to make himself more comfortable. It had been ten minutes since his sister had been carried home, and he couldn't help but somehow feel responsible for making his sister sick.

_'I had let her go out…I should've told her to stay home. I should've been a better leader!' _he shouted at himself mentally as he began pacing his room, hands folded behind his back.

"It's all **his **fault; I know it is," he muttered to himself. **He**, of course, was Uzumaki Naruto. Kazuki had known that his sister had been interested in him. Hell, he knew that basically every female that grew up with him had some kind of romantic interest in him. Whether it was the Hyūga heiress, the Haruno priss, the Yamanaka girl, or his own sister, he had noticed their love for him.

He had thought that maybe, like with his own crush on Hanabi, she would outgrow it, but recently he had seen this glazed look in her eyes, as if she were thinking about someone. And earlier, after he had come home from practice, her eyes looked even more glazed, and she seemed skittish.

He had known that she was going to see him; even a child could've guessed it. But he did nothing to stop her; did nothing to dissuade her. He desperately wanted to, though. But he didn't because even though he was technically in charge of the Sataki household, he was neither his sister's older brother nor her father, and he didn't want to be. After all, he was seven years younger than she was and still had a lot more growing to do.

_'And now look what's happened; she's unconscious with a high fever!' _he yelled at himself. He knew what he had to do; and by no means did he want to do it. He would have to take action as head of the Sataki clan to make sure that his sister remained safe; he would have to tell her how to live her life, and he knew she would detest him for it.

"But as long as I know that it'll help her in the long run, it's alright; right?" he asked to no one in particular

He received no answer.

He took in a deep breath and left his dark empty room to check up on his sister. He tentatively descended the steps from the upper level to the lower, where his mother was caring after his sister.

"Okaa-san, how is Tenten doing?" he called out into the darkness that seemed to envelop the house. Again, he received no answer. But to him, the silence was louder than any sound could be.

'_Something's wrong,' _he thought, his mind descending into a state of panic. He began to run down the steps and then through the section of the house that served as the weapon shop, the slapping of his feet on the floorboards were the only sounds in the house.

He threw open the back door that led into more of the Satakis' actual living place and feverishly looked around for his older sister and mother, both of whom were nowhere to be found.

"Okaa-san, Tenten!" Kazuki called, panic clear in his voice. Still, no one answered his calls. "Where are you?" he asked himself. He then saw the bathroom door to his left open, and he had found his answer.

"Tenten; you're alright!" he proclaimed ecstatically. "I was so afraid; you were unconscious and you had such a high fever I thought…"

"Kazuki," his sister interjected harshly as she stepped out of the bathroom and closed the door behind her, clad in a loose fitting t-shirt and loose, baggy pants.

"Yes, Tenten?" Kazuki asked, confused. He didn't have the faintest idea of why she would act so irritated. After all, he had done nothing but wish for her well-being and had done the little he could to help his sister.

"Who do you think you are?" she indignantly asked, her eyes cold as ice. Kazuki blinked his eyes in surprise; he had not expected anything pleasant by the sound of his sister's voice but this; this was far beyond what he had expected.

"What do you mean aneue?" Kazuki innocently asked, shifting his weight from one foot to another.

"Tell me otōto; do you think you're important enough to call others unwanted? To tell them that they won't be missed when they're gone? Tell me Kazuki, are you truly so cold-hearted as to tell a boy younger than you to crawl into a cave and die? What happened to the kind-hearted boy I grew up with; the one who would tell his aneue that he loved her and would never do anything to hurt her?" Tenten demanded angrily, her eyes never once blinking or losing contact with Kazuki's own.

"I was only doing what was best for…" began Kazuki defensively but was stopped by a sharp pain erupting on the side of his face.

"Don't you dare tell me that inflicting so much pain on someone who was already scarred was for the best. Do you know how much pain Sasuke's been through in his life? You had a father when you were six years old. Do you know what he had told me when I was training him today? He told me that when he was younger he lived on the streets with no money, no family, and no support. I've put up with a lot from you, Kazuki, whether it was your disdain towards my liking of Naruto, dating Lee, or proposing to Neji, but now I draw the line," she coldly admonished.

To put it plainly, Kazuki was stupefied; never before had his sister hit him, and it felt so bad to him. It felt worse than any detention he had ever gotten or any test he failed; it was as if he failed one of the people he loved the most. But his confusion quickly grew into anger.

"If you love him so much then why aren't you out with him right now? Shouldn't you be out having some kind of romantic date or adrenaline pumping moment? If you love him so much, then go and live with him why don't you! Oh, that's right, his apartment's fucking destroyed! And how do you know he even loves you? Maybe he'll just use you and then throw you away like an unwanted toy! Have you thought of that aneue?" exploded Kazuki, his heart pounding and his breaths coming quickly.

"How do you know about his apartment being destroyed? I never told you about that," Tenten asked. Kazuki's eyes widened as he realized that she **hadn't **told him.

"Tenten I swear I didn't…" Kazuki began to protest, but already knew by the look in his sister's eyes that no matter what he said, she would not believe him.

Kazuki only lowered his head in shame, for he knew that no matter however many excuses he gave, or how much evidence he showed, he would be guilty.

Guilty for a crime that he did not do; but rather had hired someone to do it for him.

--

"Naruto?" she called tentatively to the man. However, he did not hear her, or if he did, he decided not to acknowledge her. She was almost moved to physical sickness at the sight in front of her.

She had only seen Naruto cry on two occasions: the Sandaime's funeral and at Lee's funeral. But on both of those times there were other people crying along with him, including her. And now, he was the only one that was crying and Sakura was the only one there to comfort him. And it wasn't just that he was crying, he was full out sobbing on his hands and knees.

She thought back to all of the times that she would cry and her mother would comfort her. And then she thought of Sasuke's funeral, and when she was like this; it was Neji who got her to calm down. And not with kind, sympathetic words or hugs and kisses either; he had merely placed a hand on to her shoulder and offered her a hand to get up.

_'Maybe it'll help him, like it helped me,' _she thought as she walked closer to her teammate. She then slowly placed her hand on Naruto's shoulder from behind, keeping a grip that was not too firm, but not too lax either.

"Naruto," Sakura murmured as his body went completely rigid at her touch. "You'll catch a cold if you stay out here too long," she advised. She could feel the cold rain fall on to her and slip down her shirt, sending shivers running throughout her body.

"Don't touch me," Naruto commanded, his voice wavering between several emotions she couldn't discern. Sakura frowned at his comment; he had never once in the past spoken to her like Sasuke before, but just then he had sounded just like the sole survivor of the massacre of the Uchiha clan.

"Why shouldn't I Naruto? Tell me why I shouldn't touch you," Sakura told him, keeping her voice in a low, calm tone. Naruto then began to get up, and Sakura released her grip on his shoulder. Soon the two faced each other; both of them soaked to the bone.

"Because I kill people Sakura," Naruto answered, facing Sakura head on. She recognized this look; it was his determined look, the one that said that no matter what you said, he wouldn't listen. "I kill people for a living; out of all the jobs in the world I chose to do this, to fulfill the role of God. To decide who deserves to live and who deserves to die," he informed. "Have you ever killed a person Sakura?"

Sakura merely shook her head in the negative, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"Then you wouldn't know how horrible it feels to know that it's your fault that someone can't go back to their home, that their spouse and kids won't see them again, that their family and friends will cry and sob for them. It sickens you to feel their blood on your own hands; that you voluntarily took another's life for "the good of the village." There's only one feeling worse than killing, Sakura; and that's killing someone you love," Naruto explained, all of his emotions spilling out in jumbled heaps; anger, sadness, disappointment, pity, excitement, all of them finally coming out. Naruto visibly stiffened as Sakura embraced him, pressing her clean body against his filthy, muddy one.

"Naruto, why do you keep this to yourself? You have so many people close to you yet you keep these feeling buried in your thoughts. You don't have to be so alone, you know. Nobody should have to suffer alone, because, in reality, we're all suffering. Maybe not by the same things, but we all our pained by cuts and bruises scars. So please, let me help you just this once; let me repay you for everything you've done for me, and repent for all that I've done to you," Sakura pleaded. "Let me suffer with you; then, maybe, we can focus on what's really worth protecting and worth killing for."

Naruto then returned Sakura's embrace, the rain the only sound in the air for several minutes as they stood there like figures frozen in time.

"Alright, Sakura; I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything. Where do you want me to begin?" Naruto conceded, releasing Sakura, a blush on his face. She then followed suit.

"At the beginning, Naruto; tell me from the beginning," Sakura requested. "But we should go in doors first, or we'll both get sick. We could go to my place."

"But your mother," Naruto began to object. However, he was silenced by a finger being pressed to his lips.

"My mother knows you well enough, and anyway, you could probably fit in my dad's old clothes," retorted Sakura. Naruto knew not to press the matter farther, for the subject of her father was still a delicate matter.

"Alright," Naruto said. "Let's go then; but, could you do me a favor Sakura?"

"What is it?"

"Tenten's mother was looking after someone for me, and I don't want to intrude on her any longer. Could I…" Naruto requested.

"How about this; you go to your house and change in to some clean clothes, and I'll go pick up Sasuke for you," Sakura offered as they walked away from the Memorial Stone.

"How did you know what his name was?" Naruto asked, amazed at her knowledge.

"Intuition, Naruto; that's all."


	15. I Don't Understand

Again, sorry for the slow update rate. Over the past few months I've been delving into different writing styles and I got way too preoccupied with my experimentation to focus on anything else. However, I see me getting distracted as an overall good experience, because when I went and reread the past few chapters so that I can, well, continue, I found myself wanting to be smacked by something very hard. I couldn't believe how I could've called anything beyond chapter 11 true chapters that I put my effort into.

So, I'd like to apologize to all of you guys for letting you all down with the past few chapters. I've got good news though; I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico. But seriously, I'm going to try and redirect the story in a direction that I may not be completely ashamed of. As you can see, I've put a lot of effort into this (maybe twice as much time as the usual amount) and I'm proud to say that I can actually say goodbye to this day that has somehow been able to stretch 8 chapters.

As usual, reviews are always appreciated; flames are welcome also. You can diss my story from now until the end of time, but I will never stop writing.

And just one last note; during my month of experimentation, my English teacher made us write a song of praise that constituted an essay grade. In addition to this, we all have the chance to submit them for professional publication in a newsletter for a university I can't remember the name of! So if I'm not active within the next month or so, I'll probably be editing the song or working on a novelette I'm currently writing.

Big Quise: I hope this chapter is more to your liking! I advanced the plot a bit more than in previous chapters, if only because having seven chapters for a period of time less than six hours is getting ridiculous.

Royak: Yeah, this will be "one hell of a story to end," especially since I'm planning on ditching my original ending for a different one. Don't worry about all those annoying loose ends though, they'll all be concluded eventually. And your review really got me thinking about my own character structure. I actually had not noticed that I built my characters like that, and your view is much appreciated!

I just want to thank all of you who've reviewed this story!

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

* * *

**Chapter 15: The Only Reason I Do Not Understand is Because You Do Not Let Me

* * *

**

'_Someone cares,' _thought Naruto as he opened the pale door to his apartment, pausing for a moment to stare at the door adjacent to him. Shrugging and sliding his shoes off, he made his way towards the bathroom. Soon soaking-wet clothes joined others in a hamper clearly not his own (thankfully Sakura had been kind enough to lend him one of hers).

_'Someone wants to know me,' _Naruto thought cheerfully as he walked into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. Water rolled down his toned muscles and his usually unruly blond hair now matted down to his forehead. Persistent water continued to drip down his lean face, but he managed a small smile before his hands reached down and into the cabinet under the sink for a dry towel.

**"Kit, what are you going to do about her?" **the demon fox's voice boomed in Naruto's head as he victoriously pulled a towel from the drawer and began drying himself off. He decided not to focus on the Kyūbi and instead focus on making sure that he was dry; making sure the only thoughts in his head were of the woven fabric he rubbed firmly against his body.

**"Don't ignore me Kit; you're going to have to face this problem eventually," **he demanded, causing Naruto to grimace.

"I know, I know," Naruto said aloud, heaving a frustrated sigh as he once again looked at himself in the mirror. "I'm just not ready to face her yet; I'm not strong enough," he confessed to the fox, lowering his eyes in shame.

**"Stop feeding yourself that crap. If you're strong enough to take another's life then you're strong enough to fix your own mistakes. And anyway, didn't you want to give her something?" **admonished the demon fox. Naruto, however, kept on trying to ignore him as he once again brushed the tough fabric against his wet skin. This time, however, the Kyūbi did not say anything, only shaking his head at his vessel's stubbornness.

Soon after, Naruto exited the bathroom, mentally prepping himself for the conversation he was about to have with his childhood crush.

_'What do I say; where should I start?' _Naruto asked himself as he walked into his room and frowned as he scanned over the room, which was pretty much destroyed. All of his furniture had been destroyed by fire, leaving him ash and charred wood as compensation. The walls' now singed wooden planks that had been hidden by wallpaper depicting steaming bowls of ramen of all flavors were now exposed. Many areas of the wall were bare of any wall paper, the many layers partially or totally burned through.

There was only one place unfettered by the arsonists; Naruto's secret closet, which he had taken meticulous care to conceal in case anything like this should happen. He was used to hiding his most precious possessions; for often as a child his apartment would be ransacked, burned, or vandalized, however with less and less frequency over the years as Naruto matured and began to prove his worth to the village hidden in the leaves. And not once had anyone ever discovered his secret closet, much to his joy.

**"You tell her what she wants to hear; she wants the truth, you give her the truth," **the fox answered as Naruto walked over to the middle of his room, took a piece of chalk out of his pocket, and began drawing glyphs on one of the boards.

"Kai," Naruto whispered as he made a single handsign over the glyph, which began to glow and then disappeared without a trace, as if it were never there in the first place. In its place, however, was a brass key.

"I don't know, I've never, well, told anyone the whole truth before and, to be honest, I don't want to tell anyone," he confessed as he picked up the key and walked back into the entrance room and walked towards where his couch used to be. Now, it was only a burnt mass that only vaguely resembled a couch and merely took up space. That was all right for him though; he didn't mind that it was useless. He just didn't want his apartment to be empty; emptiness for him meant death and a lack of hope, both of which he tried to completely get rid of. He then drew another glyph on the wall behind the scorched couch and made the same handsign, the ram.

"Kai," he muttered as a small section of the wall collapsed into itself, forming a keyhole just the right size for the brass key. Naruto then inserted the key into the hole and twisted, causing part of the wall to fall on to the ground next to him, creating a loud thumping sound.

**"I'll never understand you humans," **the Kyūbi grumbled. **"You say you want love yet when push comes to shove, you back out and blame it on something else." **His complaints fell on deaf ears, however, as Naruto walked into the opening that was revealed when the section of wall fell.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu," he muttered as a single shadow clone appeared next to Naruto, yawning and stretching, clad only in a tight pair of boxer shorts.

"What is it? I'm sleepy," the clone grumbled before yawning again. Naruto glared at the embarrassing clone, which aptly began to take Naruto seriously.

"Answer the door if anyone comes, and henge yourself into some clothes," Naruto commanded before he disappeared into the dark room that had been spared by the vandals. He could've sworn he heard the clone mutter something about being overworked, but dismissed it as his imagination as he looked over all of the things that he stored within the hidden walk-in closet.

It was a moderate sized closet, about one and a half meters tall, two meters wide, and three meters from the entrance to the opposite wall, which was a plain white, just like the other walls and the ceiling.

To anyone else, this may have been a simple walk-in closet, maybe to store old clothes and some meaningless figurines and paperwork, but for Naruto, it held his childhood. On the ground lay his very first kunai, given to him as a birthday present from the Sandaime Hokage when he was seven. He had used it every single day he attended the academy, and because of it there were oil marks left on the old, worn out tape wrapped around the handle and the blade was nicked and scratched in so many places. The obsidian metal looked so fragile that even the slightest touch might have destroyed it. Next to it lay a small box, and within it lay a hiraishin kunai, which had been given to him by Jirayia on the day before returning from their year and a half training trip.

"This was the Yondaime's," Jirayia had told him as he held the pronged kunai out towards Naruto, who was practically jumping up and down out of anxiousness. "It was used for his signature jutsu, the hiraishin, and is probably the last of its kind. You, Naruto, as my final student, have proven yourself to me. In fact, you have exceeded every single expectation I had of you. I would like to say that you are my legacy, but I would be lying. Because in every way, you are Yondaime's legacy Naruto; make sure that you don't dishonor his name," Jirayia narrated, a solemn look on his face as he did so. But then, after, he cracked a small grin. "Congratulations Naruto; you've officially proven yourself to me as a true ninja." Naruto had literally tackled him in his gratitude, tears rolling down his face as he thanked the sannin over and over again while Jirayia just laughed. It was the last time Jirayia had been in contact with Naruto over the past four years.

And from a cylindrical bar built into the two side walls hung three different outfits. One of them was the orange and blue jumpsuit with the white collar that Naruto had worn every single day for five years straight; from when he was nine to when he was fourteen. The fabric was almost entirely worn out and had ripped in a multitude of places, making it appear ragged and overused, both of which were completely true. And tied around the collar was the pair of green goggles he had worn throughout most of his childhood.

The second outfit was the black and orange tracksuit he had begun to wear during his training journey, when he had finally grown out of his orange and blue one during his training journey with Jirayia. Unlike its counterpart, however, this one was still in useable condition. The only reason he had stopped wearing it was because of the fact that, for once, he had been able to choose which clothes he wanted to wear due to the increased pay off of B and A ranked missions.

And then there was the third outfit, or rather, article of clothing; the birthday present that had mysteriously appeared in his apartment. It was the day he turned 18 and he had just completed an A-ranked mission when he stumbled into his apartment, his clothes blood smeared and his vitality steadily decreasing. The second he entered his apartment he knew that someone had been in it; the glass he had left on the sink counter had been moved and, of course, there was a jacket cover case laid out on his couch. Naruto trudged over to the suitcase and examined it.

He had discovered only one thing however; a note taped to the case. On it were written the words "To Naruto. Today is your first step into manhood; make sure you don't screw it up." Naruto, albeit exhausted, opened the case, his curiosity getting the better of him. After examining its contents, he immediately left to go take a shower and sleep, thinking that it was just a trick of the mind. But still, when he returned it was there; the infamous trademark of Kazama Arashi, the silk cloak that had embroidered flames licking the purgatory of white that seemed to envelop the fabric. Immediately he put it back in the case and hung it up in the closet and had left it in there ever since, lest he ruin it in same way.

But now, as he stood among the physical manifestations of his past, he felt a new sense of invigoration for the future. He unhooked the tracksuit from the clothes hanger it hung from and slipped it on to him, like a second skin. Instantly he felt the insulation that the suit provided, warming his shivering body with it's fabric and with memories that seemed to be an eternity old. Something didn't feel quite right to him though; something was missing, and Naruto knew exactly what it was. However he did not feel quite ready for it; that he himself was not worthy.

Several minutes later, Naruto exited the apartment with a determined grin on his face, the orange and black tracksuit stretching over his skin to fit his body; which had grown since the last time he had worn it.

As he walked proudly out of the complex and towards the house of one Haruno Sakura, he felt nervous, and in a strange way, happy.

The rain had let up mostly, and the moon's light shone down upon the wet streets of Konoha through the smoky veils of the clouds.

"Dattebayo," Naruto whispered to himself; a secret mantra from his childhood that had lain forgotten inside of him, until now, when he needed the special word that always seemed to bring up his spirits. And right now, that's exactly what he needed.

* * *

Sakura was not one to act on impulse; quite the opposite actually. She usually planned out her words very carefully in her mind and only spoke the ones that would benefit her in some way. She hardly ever regretted the decisions she made. But now, as she walked towards Tenten's house, she began to rethink her words to Naruto.

_'Am I truly ready?' _she thought herself as she clasped her hands together. _'Am I really prepared to be shown all of the feelings he's repressed for so long? I mean…what if I, what if I begin to pity him? I mean, I already do in a way; just thinking about what kind of trauma he must have gone though gives me the chills,' _she reflected as her pace slowly came to a halt; a realization suddenly dawning on her.

_'Why is Tenten's **mother** of all people looking after Sasuke?' _she asked herself. _'I mean, he could have asked any of us to do it yet he chooses one of our mothers; something's not right.' _Sakura thought as she looked up towards the sky, looking for an answer in its vastness.

_"Do mean that…she…loves…me?"_

_"Can you tell me all you know about Naruto-san?"_

_"Does that mean that she loves me?"_

Everything from the past two days began whirring around in Sakura's head, trying to finish an unsolved puzzle in her head. But no matter what she tried to make of it, she could not figure out why Sasuke was with Tenten's mom, nor why Naruto was such a mess.

_'Unless…'_ Sakura thought as she began walking again. _'What if Naruto's fear came true? What if she doesn't love him? But then…no, she's not shallow, Furball wouldn't be the reason'_

"Damn it!" she yelled as she balled her hands into fists and barely restrained herself from hitting something. "Why the hell are you so difficult to figure out; idiot!" she shouted at no one in particular. However, unluckily for her, she didn't notice the person standing behind her.

"Sakura-san?" a timid voice asked behind her. Sakura turned around, slightly blushing at someone hearing her unflattering outburst and rushed over to the young drenched boy standing in front of her.

"Sasuke-kun, why are you out here?" Sakura demanded as she approached the boy.

"I'm just...going for a walk," Sasuke mumbled as he waited for Sakura to approach him. Sakura quirked an eyebrow at his response quizzically as Sasuke averted her gaze.

_'There's something he's not telling me,'_ Sakura thought. _'But then again, it's neither my right nor my responsibility.'_ "So I take it that you're going to go home now?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah…home," Sasuke answered detachedly, staring off into space. "Sakura-san, you can cure people, right?" Sasuke inquired, still not meeting Sakura's gaze.

_'Oh shit; that really doesn't sound good,' _Sakura thought as she sighed. "Yes, why?" she tentatively asked.

"Because…Tenten…she," Sasuke stammered as he finally began to meet the older ninja's gaze.

"What? What about her?" Sakura frantically asked, knowing that whatever Sasuke was trying to say wasn't going to be good news.

"I…I found her out cold in the street," he quickly said. "R-really, I-I don't know what happened! She, she was just there! I only brought her back to her house! I swear Sakura-san I swear!" Sasuke added quickly, stumbling over some of his words. The change in Sakura's entire body shifted instantly, from worried and anxious to calm and serious.

"Sasuke, I need you to do something for me," Sakura demanded as she looked down at the boy, somewhat frightened at the woman's sudden attitude change.

"What?" he asked, looking up into Sakura's eyes fearfully.

"Go home; run as fast as you can. If you see Naruto, tell him that I'll have to postpone our meeting due to urgent business," Sakura instructed. _'Oh God I hope Tenten's alright…hopefully it's nothing more than a fever or fatigue,' _Sakura thought worriedly. Even though externally she seemed calm and composed, internally she was panicking and frantically hoping that her friend was alright.

"Al-alright, Sakura-san," Sasuke complied. Immediately he turned around and began sprinting through the wet streets to where he believed Naruto's apartment was located.

Sakura immediately began running towards Tenten's house, left with more questions than answers.

_'Why would she let herself just collapse in the street? She's not as thick-headed as **some **people I know; something is definitely not right here…' _

* * *

The two sat across each other, both of them locked in a battle of silence. One allowed his eyes to wander around the room, making sure that they never crossed the paths of his sister, while she couldn't tear her eyes away from her brother.

The silence that had overtaken the two was then broken by a loud knocking on the front door.

"I'll get it," Kazuki offered, eager to escape the awkward silence he had previously been trapped in. _'Sorry, Tenten; I only want what's best for you. And you're above scum like him,' _he thought as he ran to the front door.

"Who are you?" he rudely asked, openly glaring at the woman standing in the doorway. "If you're looking my sister she's not feeling good so go away," he said. A second later he was sprawled out on the ground, rubbing his head.

"Don't get in my way while I'm on business brat," Sakura growled at the younger boy as she walked past him; causing him to cower away from her in fear.

"Kazuki, who is it?" Tenten called as she walked into the weapon shop, which also served as the entrance to their house. "Ah, Sakura-chan, it's good to see you here; what brings you here at this time though?" Tenten asked joyfully, a smile on her face.

"Sasuke-kun sent me," Sakura answered curtly. "Now go back inside; you're sick with something," Sakura instructed, not failing to notice how Tenten's eyes widened at the mention of the young boy.

"Sakura-chan, really, I'm fine; it was only a passing fever," Tenten affirmed. "You really don't have to stay here."

"Alright then, Tenten-chan, if you say you're alright; but I'm not leaving. I need to speak with you," Sakura answered, her determination unwavering.

"About what, Sakura-chan?" Tenten asked her friend. But she could see in the pink haired kunoichi's eyes what she needed to speak about.

"Naruto," Sakura answered calmly.

"Come in then," Tenten relented, sighing. She then turned to look at her brother. "Kazuki, go prepare some tea for our guest," she stoically ordered.

"But…Tenten…she," he began to protest, but was silenced by a glare that could kill from his sister.

"Y-yeah, sure," he stammered as he scampered on to his feet and ran back into the living compartment of their house to prepare tea.

"Women are scary," he muttered to himself as he began to boil some water in a kettle.

* * *

"Ok, what's up with you and Naruto?" Sakura asked brusquely as she sat at a table across from Tenten.

"Nothing, Sakura-chan; what would give you that idea?" Tenten answered. She was lying through her teeth; she knew it, Sakura knew it, and Tenten knew that Sakura knew that she knew it.

"Don't play dumb with me, please," Sakura lightly pleaded. "I just wanted to help," she added.

"Your help isn't wanted, nor is it needed," Tenten coldly responded, causing Sakura to blink several times.

_'Is this that same girl I grew up with?' _Sakura asked herself. _'She never spoke like this before.' _"I'm sorry; I just…I just wanted to help him, that's all. I still remember how happy he used to be and how excited he used to act when we were younger. And now, now he's not like before; he's more distant from us and less happy. I mean, in light of the recent events I can understand; but there's something else, I just know it.

I may have been useless and inconsiderate towards him when I was younger, but it doesn't mean that I didn't learn anything. And one of the main things I learned about him was that he acts as if all of the hatred, all the pain, all the suffering that he bears means nothing to him. But now, now he's like a stranger to me; I don't know this new brooding, unhappy Naruto; he's a stranger to me. And I just, I just want to bring back the old Naruto who would smile and laugh and just make me feel good. So please, Tenten-chan, won't you help me?" Sakura pleaded passionately, balling her hands into fists tightly in her lap.

"No," Tenten flatly answered. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I can't help you," she added sympathetically as she met her friend's sorrowful gaze.

"But I don't…I don't understand," Sakura objected pitifully.

"And that's why I can't help you nor allow you to help me Sakura-chan; you just don't understand," Tenten answered. "You would never be able to understand what it feels like to be someone like Naruto or myself. You wouldn't be able to understand the amount of pain we have to put ourselves through just to feel accepted in society. You could never understand…" Tenten began to lecture, listing why Sakura could not help her. But, before she could finish, she was interjected by a loud bang on the table that was placed in between them. Sakura's teeth ground together as her fist lay unmoving from the table, which was still intact after the blow.

"Dammit!" she shouted as she rose to her feet, finally giving in to her emotions. "Who the hell are you to say that I don't understand? You don't understand, you can't understand, you'll never understand; I'm sick of it all! I'm sick of not understanding! I'm sick of being treated like a goddamn princess!

The only reason I don't understand is because you won't let me try! You immediately write me off as some prissy air-headed princess that's detached from the world and all of the pain that's in it; you're wrong. I hurt too; I feel pain when I'm cut and I feel empty when I lose a loved one. Just because I was raised in a somewhat standard family environment doesn't mean that I'm oblivious to the pain of others!" She then stopped for a second to catch her breath, and when she continued, her voice was a ragged whisper.

"I can see that Naruto hurts inside; I can see that he's dying. And all of these years I've been nothing but a royal pain in the ass for him; I'm not happy about it but I know it as the truth. And so now, when I finally come to the realization that maybe, just maybe, I can help him I'm turned away because I don't' understand? Where is the logic in that; especially since the person denying me is someone who has no idea what they're talking about?" As she spoke, her tone progressively got louder and more accusatory, to the point where she was again yelling at her companion. Except this time, her anger and vehemence resonated within every word; the desperation and pleading that was in her previous monologues completely vanished.

"How can you even think about comparing yourself to Naruto? Especially after finding out about that hell spawn fox that's made Naruto's life a living hell, how can you say that you're problems are parallel to his? Sure, maybe you feel left out once in a while or maybe you feel that you aren't accepted by society, but you have no idea if you truly think that you're anything like him.

Maybe you would know if you were his classmate, but being that year older hasn't shown you the true hardships he had to deal with when he was younger. **Everyone **hated him and **no one** loved him. Sure, maybe you do know that, but did you know that every day after school in the academy the other students beat him up for no reason and then just left him wherever they had done the deed; most of the times bleeding and unconscious? Did you know that he'd sit on that stupid swing in the academy playground all day; just wasting away his childhood while others played and enjoyed their childhoods?" Once again, she paused to catch a breath. When she continued, she spoke in a threatening tone, her voice barely audible.

"You have no right to compare your troubles with his Tenten-chan, no matter how hard you may think you've had it, he's had it harder by at least a hundred fold. So before you chastise me for trying to understand the person who I wish to help, think about how much **you **understand," Sakura rebuked, a flood of emotions pouring out of her. She then shakily got up from the chair and began to walk away.

"I'm sorry for intruding," she apologized without looking back. The pink haired kunoichi then walked quickly out of the building so that neither of the two would see her trembling or the moisture in her eyes.

_'I want to help you Naruto. Really, I do, but it seems as if fate won't have it,' _Sakura thought as she walked towards her own home, where almost certainly all of the lights would be out and her mother would be fast asleep. But there she would be able to find peace and solace; just what her troubled mind needed.

_'I need to go to sleep,' _she thought wearily as she trudged into the dark household of her family and then into her room, where her mind and body separated seconds after she fell on to her bed.

* * *

He stood outside of her door, his closed fist raised up to the door, about to knock.

_'Would it be alright; after what happened? Would she slam the door in my face, or would she let me in?' _ he asked himself as he could feel the adrenaline rush throughout his entire body.

**"Just knock on the damn door! How hard could it possibly be?" **the Kyūbi grumbled to himself as he watched Naruto uninterestedly.

_'Shut up; it's harder than you think,' _Naruto mentally snapped as he drew in a shaky breath and drew back his hand to knock.

"Here it goes," he muttered to himself as he was about to knock on the door, but as he was about to, it suddenly swung inwards, revealing none other then one of his students.

"Oh, it's you," Kazuki nonchalantly stated as he glared at his sensei. "What do you want?"

"Wh-wh-what are you doing here?" demanded Naruto as he pointed a finger accusingly at the genin.

"I live here Baka-sensei," Kazuki answered. At this Naruto's eyes widened in shock; he knew that this was Tenten's house. After all, he had just been here just a few hours ago.

_'How could he live here? Unless…unless…he's…her brother?' _ Naruto formulated as he looked at his student.

"If you're looking for my aneue she has company over," he stated. "Very rude company," he added spitefully.

It was at that moment that there was a loud banging sound as the voices in a different room escalated.

"I suggest that you leave Baka-sensei," Kazuki suggested with a yawn. "My aneue will be up for any more intrusions tonight; she's still recovering from an illness," he explained. "Oh, and your clothing's very ugly and makes you look fat," he added as an afterthought before slamming the door in the man's face.

**"Did that little bastard just slam the door in your face?" **the Kyūbi asked, awestruck by the boy's nerve.

"Yeah, he did," Naruto responded in amazement

**"You're going to work his ass into the ground tomorrow?" **he asked, sadistically grinning.

"Yup," Naruto answered without moving from the doorway. "So Tenten's otōto is that ungrateful little brat," he muttered.

**"And you thought that life couldn't get any harder," **the demon fox scoffed, a lupine grin on his face. Naruto just sighed as he walked away from the door.

_'Well, if what Sasuke-kun and Kazuki-bozu said were true, then I guess she really would be too exhausted to have to deal with me,' _Naruto somberly thought as he dragged his feet along the street.

"It's too late to be thinking of such troublesome matters," Naruto said wearily as he neared his apartment complex.

When he opened the door to his apartment, he was relieved to find nothing but darkness in the apartment. As he walked into his room, he found Sasuke sprawled out on the floor, his head rested on his arms. Naruto smiled gently as he laid a blanket over him and then undressed, once again clad only in his undergarments.

_'I definitely have to go buy more clothes tomorrow,' _Naruto thought to himself as he lay down in his bead, staring at the dark ceiling above him.

_'At least tomorrow I'll have a clear head,' _Naruto thought to himself.

* * *

Kazuki sighed as he brought in a tray with two cups of tea, only to find that Sakura had left and that his sister was staring off into space.

"Tea?" he asked tiredly as he set the tray down. "Don't listen to what that pink haired bitch said, onee-chan. You have every right to compare your troubles with whoever you feel," Kazuki consoled as he took a sip from one of the teacups, relishing the rush of warmness that flooded throughout his body.

"Thanks," Tenten muttered as she took one of the cups and looked into the steaming hot liquid that it held.

_'Why is she so concerned about those two? They haven't done anything to help her; only hurt her. I can't stand people like them,' _he maliciously thought as he looked over his sister.

"Okaa-san will be worried if you don't get a good night's rest," Kazuki finally said after several minutes of silence. "After all, don't you have a mission tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Tenten agreed with a deep sigh. "Today was just to tiring, that's all," she added with a sad smile.

"Why don't you go to bed; I'll clean up," Kazuki offered as he quickly drained the small cup.

"When I get back, you and I are having a long talk," she warned as she mimicked her brother.

"About what?" Kazuki asked, merely wishing to appease his sister. In truth, he was so exhausted he could have fallen asleep on his feet.

"Everything," she answered as she got up from her seat and began walking towards her room. "Goodnight, Kazuki-kun."

"Good night, Onee-chan." _'I'll make you proud of me, one way or another; I swear it.' _

* * *

The woman stood alone in the dark open field, the shadows of the tall elm trees falling over her as she impatiently waited for her partner to arrive.

"It's about time," she snapped as a masked man stepped into the training field, walking at a painfully slow rate. "How long could it possibly take to acquire an ANBU uniform?"

"It took me longer than I had anticipated to dispose of one," explained the man as he sat down upon a training log. "What is the status of Sentinel?" he asked in a business-like tone as the woman walked closer towards him.

"He has made contact with the target," the woman answered while stretching out her arms. "He's also developed a fixation on the Uchiha manor," she added off-handedly.

"That's to be expected," replied the man as he lifted the mask off of his head. "After all, isn't memory only data that can be easily warped and replicated?"

"I guess," the woman agreed with a sigh. "But it would be in our best interest if the brat doesn't find out his connection to the Uchiha," she added forcefully. "And what of the other two? Were they able to be saved?" she asked eagerly. At that the man sighed deeply and shook his head. "Don't tell me that…" the woman groaned as she rubbed her forehead with her knuckles.

"Orochimaru is dead; his circulatory system was permanently destroyed by the Uchiha's chidori nagashi," the man answered as he pushed the set of circular glasses up to his eyes.

"And the Uchiha brat?" the woman asked venomously. "What became of him?"

"His status is…unknown," confessed the man.

"How the hell can you not know his status?" the woman barked. "I give you the chance of a lifetime to escape, I provide you with corpses to dress, and you can't even hold on to a little brat for a few weeks!"

"I'm very sorry," the man apologized. "He is stable though; that much is clear. He's out there somewhere, most likely searching for Itachi," the man stated.

"You still haven't explained to me how you managed to lose him Yakushi," the woman snapped bitterly.

"That's besides the point; the only important issue for now is Sentinel. Without him all of our plans fall to bits and we'll both be killed," Kabuto dismissed. "Has he activated the curse seal yet?"

"No, not yet," the woman answered. "And I doubt that he will, at least for a while anyway. Uzumaki is too protective of his loved one to allow Sentinel to be put into that kind of danger," the woman reported.

"Well then, I guess we'll just have to take Uzumaki out of the picture, won't we?" Kabuto answered, speaking as if the answer was obvious. "Soon all of our plans will come to fruition, and Konoha will be ours for the taking," Kabuto announced, grinning.

"You'll uphold your end of the deal, right Yakushi?" the woman asked.

"Of course; after all, I am a man that keeps my words," Kabuto answered with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, whatever," Anko grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Just don't forget that you need Danzō's support if you want your plan to succeed," Anko reminded.

"I already have a plan in mind," the Oto nin said as he jumped on to his two feet. "We should be going now; staying here any longer would only put us at risk for discovery," he said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Anko grimaced as she repeated the actions of her co-conspirator, confident that no one had witnessed their secret meeting.


	16. Hidden Talents of Masquerading Children

Thank you all for reviewing!! Seeing Shippuden somewhat revived my interest in the Naruto fandom, which has all but disappeared. I must admit that they really brought it in with a bang, especially with the musical differences. I can't wait until the next OST comes out…

BUT ANYWAY, on to the review response(s):

Rovak: I've actually been asking myself that exact same question. Originally, this story was supposed to be a one-shot, then a five-shot, and now it's a full-fledged multi-chapter. And as for it's length, I expect it to end somewhere between chapter 20 and chapter 40. I just hope I'll have the patience to finish the story without botching it any more than I already have.

Yonboy: Thank you for the compliments; they're very much appreciated. And I fully realize that I need to tread VERY carefully with Anko and her motives. Even if I have to rewrite future chapters regarding her over and over again I will get it right! As for Uchiha and Sasuke, well, you'll have to be a little patient with that.

I must admit, I am surprised that I received no blatant flames for teaming up Anko with one of her worst enemies; I must thank you all for that.

And in response to some reviews regarding the pairing(s), I do intend to end this story as a NaruTen. In regard to other pairings, the only other solid pairing is NejixHina.

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

* * *

**Chapter 16: The Hidden Talents of Masquerading Children**

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* * *

**

Hige woke up in a cold sweat, panting as his alarm screeched shrilly. It wasn't an uncommon thing for the young Inuzuka; ever since he was younger he was haunted by the same horrible dream. And as he sat up in his bed, the sweat glistening on his slender torso in the morning sun, he reached over to his bedside table and grabbed the small white pills and tall glass of white that sat there, like he did every morning.

He vowed to himself, a long time ago, that he would never let the others know of the illness that ravaged his body. And as he set down the now empty glass he threw the heavy down comforter off of his body and got on to his feet, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

The door than creaked open, and Hige sleepily greeted his older brother as he entered, but couldn't help but notice how grim he looked.

"Is something wrong, Onii-chan?" Hige yawned as he stretched out his arms, not taking his eyes off of his older brother.

"Nothing, Hige," Kiba answered as he walked up to his younger brother and rested a hand on Hige's shoulder. "I just wanted to say goodbye before I left, that's all," he explained with a small smile. Despite the smile, though, Hige could sense that his brother was wrong; he had never seen Kiba so calm before going on a mission. "I should only be gone for a few weeks though, so I'll probably be back in time for your birthday," he added in a promising tone.

"That's good," Hige answered with a smile. _'If that's how he wants it, fine by me; I'll just beat him at his own game.'_ "How was your date with Sakura last night? I meant to ask you when you got back, but I was already asleep," he nonchalantly asked. He inwardly scoffed as Kiba broke eye contact with him and a small blush adorned his cheeks. _'Bingo.'_

"It went fine," Kiba stammered. "Anyway, I should get going, I need to meet my team in five minutes," he hurriedly said as he removed his hand from Hige's shoulder and began to leave the room.

"See ya," Hige responded as the door closed behind him. He then heaved a heavy sigh as he fell back on to his bed, hands clasped loosely over his knees. _'He has no idea how lucky he really is,' _Hige thought to himself, but quickly dismissed the envious thoughts. _'I **really** need to stop pitying myself so much; it won't give me shit.'_

"Crap; I need to get ready," Hige muttered as he glanced at the small clock set on his old, battered, wooden bedside table. He then sprang up on to his feet and searched throughout the piles of clothes and garbage in his room for a decent outfit.

Ten minutes later he was running out the door of the Inuzuka main housewith Midorimaru, while carnivorously eating a piece of toast.

And as he sprinted throughout the near empty streets in the pre-dawn dimness, he could only think about the events that had transpired the previous night; he still couldn't get over that he, a genin still fresh out of the Academy, could've destroyed a friendship that had survived through everything that was thrown at them all because of some girl.

_'I hope I never understand the logic behind that,' _Hige thought. _'I hope that I'll never be **that** girl obsessed.' _During his thoughts, however, he didn't notice the person that was following until it was too late.

"I hate you so much," Hige groaned as he spit out dirt from his mouth. He began to form handseals stealthily and quickly so that his attacker wouldn't notice.

"A shinobi should always be prepared for an attack. That's one of the first things we learned from the academy; or are you starting to get sloppy?" lectured the boy that had Hige pinned to the ground. "I thought you were supposed to be a **genius**."

"Do I hear jealousy in your voice Kazuki?" gasped Hige, sarcasm dripping with every word. "Or is it that you're just embarrassed that a 'mutt' kicked your ass in the genin examinations?" sneered Hige. "You're lucky that you're part of a lower clan, or you would've gotten your ass beat for losing to me."

"Shut up mutt!" Kazuki yelled as he punched the pinned Inuzuka hard in the back of his head. But when he struck, Hige disappeared in a cloud of smoke. And his place was a now-smashed watermelon, its juices dripping like blood from Kazuki's fist.

"You better pay back the vendor Kazuki, he's looking pretty pissed right now," Hige advised with a feral grin from behind Kazuki, who quickly turned around to face his fellow genin. And sure enough, when Kazuki looked to where the Inuzuka boy was pointing, there was a vendor fuming over his destroyed product.

"Hey I'm not the one who chose it as the subject of a kawarimi; you pay for it 'mutt,'" Kazuki growled as he faced Hige. But when he turned to look at the boy, he was gone. _'Damn it! I'll kill him, I swear it,' _he vowed to himself. _'But right now I have more pressing matters to deal with.'_ "Hey, old man, how much does the fruit cost?" Kazuki called to the vendor.

Kazuki's eyes widened as he realized that he didn't have his wallet with him as his hand grasped at the emptiness inside one of the many pouches in his artillery pouches.

"Sorry old man; seems as if I don't got any cash with me. You can put the bill on my tab," Kazuki explained sardonically. And before the vendor could respond, Kazuki had taken off, running on the roofs of the buildings. _'I will pay you back for this 'mutt-boy,'' _Kazuki mentally threatened as he jumped from roof to roof, acting as an alarm clock for several unsuspecting citizens of Konoha.

* * *

Hige appeared at the training grounds in a swirl of leaves with a less than graceful entrance, via tripping over a stone. And as he got up on to his hands and knees, humbled by his careless mistake, a kunai was placed to his neck.

"What do you do?" the man demanded as he held the kunai pressed the kunai into the boy's neck, drawing a small trickle of blood.

_'Shit, I barely get here and sensei's already all over me,' _Hige cursed as he thought about what exactly he'd do in this situation. And, to his disgust, he found that he had no idea what to do. And so he did the first thing that came to mind; absolutely nothing. He knew that the worst thing that could happen was that he'd fail a test; he could deal with that.

"This isn't a test where you can do nothing Inuzuka; think of a solution and think of it **now**," demanded Naruto as he pressed the kunai even more into the genin's neck. _'What the hell; does Naruto-sensei have multiple personalities or something? First he's laid back and goofy, then he acts like a little kid, and now he's a total hard-ass,' _mentally whined Hige. _'The only way I'd survive this is if I had a teammate…' _thought Hige. And then the answer came to him; he couldn't survive this without a teammate. And, fortunately for him, he did possess a teammate; he just wasn't human.

As Hige glanced at Midorimaru, who was beneath his body, unnoticed by the jounin, Hige clenched his teeth and whistled in a tone too shrill for human ears. Midorimaru instantly reacted to the tone and lunged at Naruto's groin. It was a tactic Hige did not **want** to use such a damaging and underhanded technique on his sensei; but the second he was put into that life-or-death situation he needed to treat Naruto as his enemy.

Hige winced as his dog latched on to his sensei and the kunai dropped from Naruto's hand; but was hardly surprised at all when he poofed, causing Midorimaru to fall to the ground.

_'It figures that he'd send a kage bunshin,' _sourly thought Hige as he stood up onto his feet as he applied a very small amount of medical salve to where the kunai pierced his throat. _'But why would he test only me when…'_ Hige immediately scanned the area, and, for the first time, registered the fact that he was the only one in the clearing.

"He's testing us for our individual abilities to analyze and solve problems," he muttered to himself as he formed the inu handseal, concentrating all of his chakra to his ears to discover any hints as to where his teammates and sensei were.

After several seconds of standing perfectly still, he burst into motion; sprinting to where he had heard only the sound of deep breathing and the execution of kata.

_'It has to be him; there are two major signs of human activity to my left and right: Hanabi and Kazuki,' _he thought as he ran through the undergrowth of the forest.

However, once again, he did not notice a medium sized stone in front of him. And for the second time that day, ended up on the forest floor.

"I **really** hate stones,"Hige grumbled to himself as he got back on to his feet and resumed his journey.

* * *

Overall, Hanabi was unimpressed by the effort her sensei put in designing the traps he laid. She had easily seen through the tripwire and noticed the slight disarrangement of the shrubbery that usually meant pits. She had even predicted an attempt from behind her, which she countered easily with kaiten, causing the shadow clone to disappear.

_'Something's not right,' _she thought as she stood attentively in the small clearing. _'Those traps were way too easy to avoid and he knows that I have the Byakugan. No way was he even attempting to catch me with those techniques,' _she analyzed as she scanned the area around her for any more signs of danger. _'There's only one direction he can come from…'_ She spared no time in getting out of the way as the ground beneath her began to crumble away and a hand grasping a kunai sprung forth from the earth.

"Just because that cheap technique worked on Hige doesn't mean I'll fall for it," Hanabi gloated as she prepared to charge Naruto. But he never came; instead, he threw the kunai. It soared harmlessly passed her, however, instead just barely soaring over the grass to her near right. Hanabi instantly realized the danger this posed for her as one of the tripwires snapped, unleashing a barrage of projectiles.

She quickly preformed kaiten, the projectiles bouncing off the chakra shield harmlessly. But before she even stopped spinning the ground beneath her began to break. This time, however, Naruto did emerge from the ground. But there was no Hanabi; in her place was a log.

"Guess he isn't that moronic after all," Hanabi muttered to herself. "I'll be neutralized the second I'm underground."

"I always knew that the Hyūga were all bark and no bite!" Naruto goaded loudly with a moronic grin on his face.

Hanabi exhaled deeply as she tried to control her anger. _'He's just trying to rile me up so I'll give up my location,' _Hanabi thought as she began formulating a plan on how to overcome him. _'Where are Kazuki and Hige? They might actually have been useful for once.'_

"You know, your teammates have already passed their assessments; you're the slowest out of all three of them to beat me," Naruto called out into the forest.

"You're lying," muttered Hanabi. And right before her eyes, her sensei disappeared. _'Shit,'_ she thought as she immediately jumped to the ground, narrowly avoiding her sensei's kick. It was then that she realized what must be done if she wanted to pass the test set before her.

"I'm the prodigy on this team; do you hear me sensei? No matter what you do you will never crush me; heiress of the Hyūga clan!" Hanabi shouted defiantly as Naruto once again disappeared.

_'I won't fall for the same cheap trick twice,' _she thought as another tripwire went off. And as the projectiles flew toward her, she concentrated chakra into her hands and released quick bursts of chakra whenever one neared her body, successfully deflecting each of the shuriken.

And, just as planned, the ground beneath her began to crumble away, revealing her sensei again attempting to grab her. But instead of merely avoiding the attack, she grabbed his wrist and pulled upwards with all of her strength, temporarily lifting Naruto into the air.

She then thrust her other palm into Naruto's abdomen, causing flames to spring to life on his clothing. "Hakke en'en," she shouted as she observed Naruto writhe in pain, and then disappear before her very eyes.

"Kage bunshin," she stated plainly before walking further into the forest, leaving the untriggered traps where they were. _'He can clean up his own mess.'_

* * *

"Where the hell is he?" muttered Kazuki as he arrived at a large clearing; the designated destination for training. "But more importantly where are Hanabi and Hige? While they may be morons sometimes they're never late," he wondered as he fell back on to the grass and looked up towards the clear blue sky.

_'Wasn't it just cloudy a minute ago?' _Kazuki wondered as he carefully drew a kunai from his pouch and began to twirl it around on his finger as he began thinking. _'How are you supposed to counter genjutsu again?' _he asked himself. _'I have to disrupt chakra or something; I think. Or I could just wait until the caster attacks; it shouldn't be that long a wait,' _he thought as he stopped spinning the small dagger.

_'Or I could make a huge explosion and weed him out the fun way,' _he realized with a grin. He then took out two medium sized scrolls from his pockets and them into the air after smearing some blood on them before making several handseals.

"Tobidōgu: Happa!" he called as a large variety of weapons, mainly shuriken with explosive notes or exploding pouches, exploding smoke grenades, and makibishi, were scattered throughout the area, creating an innumerable amount of explosions around him. However, Kazuki never thought of the fact that he could be caught in one of the blasts; but that is what happened, and he never saw it coming.

And when the blast threw him back several feet he only barely missed the makabishi that were scattered throughout the entire area. He wasn't so lucky as to avoid colliding with a large tree and blacking out however.

Ten minutes later, he arose from his state of unconsciousness with a horrible headache and a large bruise on the back of his skull. As he quickly drew a kunai and fell into a defensive stance, he observed that his technique had worked; the sky was once again cloudy and the entire area around him was riddled with craters and weapons.

The caster of the genjutsu was nowhere to be found.

"Got ya," Kazuki smirked as he lowered his guard, but still left the kunai in his hand just in case. "Now to find Baka-sensei." He then began to cautiously navigate through the annihilated training ground, away from where he thought the streets of Konoha were.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto sat in meditation, awaiting the arrival of his three students, in Training Ground #54; the only place in Konoha where there was hardly any plant life, just packed dirt and stone. Overall, they had done better than he had expected, each one of them passing their tests in under seven minutes. Well, everyone except for Kazuki that is.

_'I wonder if I was too hard on him,' _Naruto thought. _'After all, he **is **fresh out of the academy.' _

**'You think that putting a simple genjutsu on him is "too hard?" His method of dispelling it was more dangerous than that! And anyway, didn't you say you were gonna drive these kids into the dirt yesterday?' **the Kyūbi scoffed.

_'Yeah, but still; both of his teammates completed their warm-up battles much quicker than him. I can't help but wonder how they would've fared against the genjutsu,' _Naruto wondered.

**'You are stupid, do you realize that Kit? For one, that prissy little girl student of yours is basically immune to genjutsu and the mutt boy's dog could probably detect the location of the user. And anyway, you put the other two in much worse predicaments; pointblank with a kunai and using shinjū zanshu with trigger wires and pitfalls. The prick just sucks; that's all,' **the Kyūbi retorted.

_'True…but I won't let him suck anymore,' _Naruto thought confidently. _'I'll make a ninja out of him by the end.' _

**'If there's anyone bullheaded enough to try it; it would be you,' **the Kyūbi declared. **'Oh, and he comes,' **the kitsune announced as Kazuki appeared through the forest, caked with dust and dirt.

"Congratulations," Naruto said with a large grin as Kazuki approached him, a weary look on the boy's face. "You're the last one to finish your warm-up," Naruto declared, never dropping his grin. "Now go run seven laps around Konoha and then when you're done with that do two hundred push-ups and sit-ups. And after that you'll be sparring with your teammates, who've already begun their laps," Kazuki merely stood there staring blankly at him. "What?" Naruto asked, feigning clueless ness at his student's expression.

"Are you trying to kill us? How the hell will we ever be able to become ninja if we're so exhausted we can barely move?" Kazuki asked incredulously.

"Yeah, pretty much," Naruto answered nonchalantly. "There's only one way to become a great ninja, and that's working until you can't even move without hurting. If you want to settle for mediocrity that's perfectly fine with me, just know that you'll have to find a new sensei 'cause I'll have no part in it," he explained. This time, Kazuki merely glared at his sensei disdainfully.

Naruto childishly stuck his tounge out at him behind his back as he began his laps. _'Just wait until you see what I have in store **after** you get used to this training schedule.' _

* * *

By the time the team of jōnin assembled at the gates, the sun was still hidden by a haze of clouds and the first lights of dawn were only just beginning to hit the earth. And, as usual, they were waiting for their last member.

"Can't he just be on time for once in his life?" Kiba complained as he leaned against a tree, stifling a yawn.

"No," answered Neji, who was just as agitated as his teammate. He just didn't express it as openly.

"I don't why the Hokage just doesn't assign him a few hours earlier than us," Kiba wondered out loud as he ran his hand through the fur of his canine companion.

"How do you know she doesn't?" Neji countered. "For all we know he's already three hours late," he added. After effectively shutting up Kiba, he directed his attention towards his other, quieter teammate who seemed to be trancing out.

"Tenten?" asked Neji. Tenten immediately was snapped out of her thoughts as she looked towards Neji.

"Yeah?"

"You look tired. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Tenten quickly assured. "I'm just getting over a bad cold." After this neither of the three talked to the other as they awaited their fourth member; their team leader. After another thirty minutes of waiting, he appeared in a swirl of leaves, his face buried in a book.

"It's about time," Kiba grumbled as he walked towards the rest of the group, Akamaru trotting next to him. "What took you so long?"

"Well, you see," Kakashi began to explain, but was cut off by Tenten.

"Okay, we get it; it's none of our business. Can we just go now?" she asked pleadingly as her teammates and squad leader looked at her in surprise; Tenten was supposed to be the level headed one out of the four of them; the peacekeeper. "The sooner we leave the sooner we can complete our mission," she justified indignantly.

Kakashi eyed her strangely but did not commence giving his lame excuse. He then pulled three scrolls from one of his pockets and handed one to each of the jōnin.

"Read the mission carefully and memorize it. Then burn the scroll," he commanded. Five minutes later the team was moving, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes, which scattered in the cold morning breeze.

* * *

By the time Naruto finished drilling his genin it was mid-afternoon and the genin could barely walk.

_'So, do you think I trained them hard enough?' _Naruto asked in a satisfied tone.

**'No; they shouldn't even be able to stand,' **the Kyūbi responded. Naruto merely shook his head at the kitsune's words.

"Come back here tomorrow at the same time," Naruto instructed as he stood over his students. "Make sure to get plenty of sleep!" At this all three of Naruto's squad murderously glared at him. Naruto merely grinned and preformed shunshin, disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"I hate him so much," groaned Kazuki as he leaned on the trunk of a tall sakura tree for support. "Why couldn't I have been on Team 3 or Team 9?" he complained.

"You just don't like him 'cause he's not afraid to beat the crap out of you if he needs to," snickered Hige as he lay spread eagled on the ground, his chest steadily heaving as he breathed deeply.

"Shut up; mongrel,' Kazuki spat contemptuously at the other boy.

"Dobe," retorted Hige. "At least I didn't almost blow myself to bits to get out of a simple genjutsu." Before the argument any further, however, Hanabi interceded.

"Both of you stop acting like spoiled little brats," Hanabi said; condescension clear in her voice.

"Oh you're one to talk Hyūga," scoffed Kazuki. "If anyone here is the brat it's you; little miss princess."

"Just remember that "little miss princess" can beat the crap out of you," Hige reminded with a snicker. At that Kazuki blushed; he had been bested in taijutsu spars two times by the younger Hyūga while only landing a few hits.

"You know what, I'm leaving," Kazuki announced in frustration as he began walking away from his teammates.

"Watch out," Hanabi advised as she watched him disappear behind a tree.

"For what?" called Kazuki toward the Hyūga. But before Hanabi could answer, the ground under his feet crumbled and he was sent spiraling down into a hole.

"Pitfall," Hanabi answered with a grin.

* * *

Naruto stood entranced over the Memorial Stone as the bright light of the Sun, which had only recently come out from behind its veil of clouds, caused the polished stone cenotaph to gleam like a sword. As he stood over it he could not help but remember all of the people he could call his loved ones that had died protecting their village.

_'Oji-san, Gejimayū,' _thought Naruto as he ran his finger across the engraved names of the great ninja of Konoha. _'I hope you're doing well, wherever you are. Both of you deserve happiness in the next life.' _But even as he recalled the fond memories he shared with the two, there was a shadow lurking behind each one.

_'Sasuke,' _he thought with a large sigh. _'You belong on the memorial, no matter what the others may say. You were always a soldier of Konoha at heart; your death alone proved that. I'm sorry that I couldn't at least get your name on here, teme. But it looks like no one fifty years from now will ever know your name. Ironic, isn't it? The beloved Uchiha genius will fade with time but someone, somewhere, will know the name of the demon spawn jinchūriki.' _As he was thinking, someone else approached the Memorial Stone, blocking the rays of the sun.

"I've heard that you've got yourself a team Naruto," the newcomer announced in a quiet tone. Naruto smiled as he heard the man's quiet voice; he hadn't talked with his old teacher since he had left for the last retrieval mission.

"You've right Iruka-sensei," Naruto answered, without turning to face the older man.

Iruka smiled warmly as he heard Naruto call him "sensei." _'So he still insists on calling me that even though he's surpassed me by leaps and bounds,' _he thought. "So have they driven you insane yet?" Iruka jokingly asked.

"Not yet, but I won't be surprised if they do," Naruto answered sincerely. "They're cocky, obnoxious, and overwhelming," he complained. "They remind me of myself when I was their age," he added as he folded his arms behind his head like when he was younger.

"Just hope they don't turn out like you though," Iruka jokingly said. "Or they'll all turn out being ramen obsessed hyperactive future hokage who surpass their sensei too soon," he added as he clasped a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei," Naruto began quietly. "Do you mind if we go for ramen, like when I was still in the Academy?" he asked. Iruka blinked in surprise, but his face soon returned to its paternal look that captivated the minds of so many young children; and young women.

"Sure," Iruka responded. "My treat?" he asked, not waiting until after his former student ate to find out that he was stuck with the bill.

"Nah," Naruto answered. "We'll split the bill," he added with a smile as he turned to face the man that had been like a father to him all of his life. "But do you mind if I take someone with us; he's gonna be one of the next of academy brats," he added.

"Why not?" Iruka asked with a small shrug. "The more the merrier, right?"

And as they walked towards Naruto's apartment, where Naruto would be picking up the other person they would be dining with, they chatted about the weather, local gossip, and other useless matters.

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei," Naruto interjected as Iruka was talking aimlessly about one of the newer academy. "After everything that's happened over the past few weeks, I just need something to remind of when I didn't have to worry about my friends dying and when I could just screw off and be a kid, you know?" Naruto attempted to explain. And as he tried searching for the right words, he grew more and more frustrated; to the point where he merely asked the last part sighing.

"It's no problem," Iruka dismissed with a smile at the younger man. "Now go get my future student so we can get some ramen," Iruka passively instructed as they reached the entrance to the apartment complex. Naruto quickly ran into the building, leaving Iruka alone outside the building.

Once Naruto had gone out of sight, Iruka frowned, his forehead creasing. _'What's happened to you Naruto? You were never this…calm…before,' _he thought, struggling to find the right words. _'And the fact that you talked about your childhood in such a longing way…who have you become in these past few weeks? Are you really still that same hyperactive prankster I taught a few years ago?' _

But Iruka knew, deep in his heart, that his questions would only be answered with time. However, he also knew that no matter what happened to his surrogate brother, nothing would ever crush his dream.

_'He will become Hokage whether the Counsel likes it or not. Because no matter what happens, Naruto will never, and has never, let his dreams die; not when there are so many people rooting for him to accomplish it.' _

_'And that is my nindo. I will never let my students, any of them, give up on their dreams.'_

* * *

hake en'en - eight trigrams blazing palms

Tobidōgu: Happa – weapon summoning: explosive blast

Thank you for waiting this long for updates and your ongoing support!!


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